Destiny of Weyard
by Agest
Summary: Sol Sanctum set in motion a chain of events impossible to stop, changing the world and the destiny of those in it forever. This is the story of 8 adepts and their journey through Weyard where friendships are forged, relationships are tested, and the bonds of fate are revealed. Mudshipping.
1. Through the Mogall Forest

So I've decided to write another story that isn't a oneshot.

Sol Sanctum set in motion a chain of events impossible to stop, changing the world and the destiny of those in it forever. This is the story of 8 adepts and their journey through Weyard where friendships are forged, relationships are tested, and the bonds of fate are revealed.

It begins in the Mogall Forest shortly after Mia joins the party.

I have no timetable set up for this story so I'll release chapters as I write them. Hope you enjoy!

How to read dialogue in my stories:

- "Quote" marks means someone is speaking

- _Italics_ indicate thoughts

Legal Stuff:

- I don't own Golden Sun or the affiliate characters

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**Chapter 1: Through The Mogall Forest**

It was another hot day on the continent of Angara and the cerulean haired water adept Mia still wasn't used to the drastic change in temperature from her home town of Imil. She had left the town and its perpetual winter just two weeks ago with Isaac, Garet, and Ivan after the elemental lighthouse of Mercury was lit despite her best efforts to protect it.

In some sense, joining the three boys on their quest was atonement for her failure to protect the lighthouse. Even though it was too late to prevent the lighting of the elemental lighthouse in Imil, Mia felt obligated to join Issac, Garet, and Ivan and help prevent the reaming three from meeting the same fate.

So here she was traversing Angara in their party of four, trying to save the world from the threat of alchemy. Mia was glad to see her new companions had readily accepted her to the group and that they were all easy to get along with despite having vastly different personalities.

Garet was definitely the joker of the group. As a tall and sturdy fire adept, he's the kind of person always willing to share a laugh with his friends but that could become deadly serious when needed or if a situation involved food.

Ivan was the youngest of the party, but he has brilliance beyond his years. As the all star of puzzle solving, he got the group out of quite a few sticky situations.

Isaac was the figurehead of the group and the unofficial leader. Everyone else usually respects and defers to his decisions due to his ability to remain calm and collected in all kinds of situations.

This line of thought inevitably lead Mia to ponder her own role in the party. The obvious answer is that she was the healer, the one with the most medical knowledge as well as a specialty in healing psynergy, but that wasn't the main point. _How does my personality mesh with theirs and what do they think about me as a person instead of just a healer? _She wondered. _They all have their own unique traits that define them...but I'm just a shy girl from Imil. I don't think I really have anything that defines me in the way they do_.

A loud cracking sound broke her out of her thoughts as Garet gave the group a goofy grin, clearly enjoying navigating the Mogall Forest with the new psynergy he has just learned called "Force." Hitting tree stumps with psynergy in order to locate the right pathways in the twisted maze of a forest by scaring the apes into running the correct way had to be the most bizarre form of navigation the group had ever encountered. Surprisingly it actually seemed to be working, and Garet had been obsessed with his new psynergy since learning it at the Fuchin Temple.

Isaac hopped across another gap in the river after the group had pushed a log into place to reach the other side and then extended his hand back to Mia to help her across. The cerulean haired girl flushed pink in embarrassment, before taking his hand and hopping across the log herself.

Maybe the blonde haired boy didn't notice himself doing it, but he had occasionally started offering Mia assistance jumping across logs ever since the one time she tripped on her robe right before jumping and took a fairly ungracious fall into the waters of the Kolima Forest. She had only been with the group for a few days at that point and she was completely humiliated by the misstep. Garet and Ivan had found it hilarious and Isaac gave her a smile that indicated his amusement as well, though he managed not to laugh.

Despite the embarrassment, the situation did bring some measure of good because it served as her "initiation." Before the incident it was clear that the boys didn't quite know what to think of her, but after her fall they fully embraced her into the fold; unafraid to poke fun or make jokes at her expense.

So far nobody else had commented on Isaac offering her help and she was glad that nobody seemed to notice it at all. Garet and then Ivan both followed them across the river and finally to what looked like an exit from the forest. There was one last tree stump in their path and when they approached, an ape hopped out fled toward the exit.

Garet habitually hit the stump with his Force psynergy, once again causing a resounding cracking sound, though nothing happened at all. Shrugging, Garet turned toward the exit and everyone began to follow him out of the forest. Just as they were about the leave the tree line Isaac yelled out.

"Watch out!" he exclaimed, and pushed Mia out of the way as a giant blue ape took a swing at her from behind. Somehow the beast had managed to sneak up on the party as they were leaving and now posed an immediate threat. Enraged at missing its first strike, the ape let out a war cry loud enough to hurt the ears of the adepts and cause them to quickly block out the sound with their hands.

As the shout died down, the adepts quickly got into a battle formation and prepared to face off against their new foe. Ivan led the counterattack with a blast of lightning that drew the ape's attention and provided an opening for Isaac and Garet to get in close. Isaac took a swing with his sword drawing a roar of pain while Garet used a blast attack to scorch the beast. Angered, the ape went into a fury and took three quick swipes at Garet. Though he managed to block two with his blade, the third hit the fire adept in the shoulder and caused him to stumble backward.

Mia cast a healing spell on Garet, closing up the wound and repairing the damage as Isaac summoned some vines to slow the Ape's movement and give Garet more time to recover. With a nod of thanks at Mia, Garet said, "It seems to be weak to fire guys!"

Isaac processed this new information in a matter of seconds and devised a new strategy for the battle. "Garet, try casting your fire psynergy from a distance while I distract him up close. Ivan, Mia: Provide support and stop the ape from getting to Garet when I have to back off," Isaac said, readying his sword.

Accepting this strategy with a nod, Garet backed off a bit to a safer place to cast his spells while Mia called on her Djinni to attack. "Sleet!" she yelled out, conjuring the little blue creature and watching it spew shards of ice at the ape. Ivan followed up her attack with a whirlwind that made it difficult for the beast to swing at Isaac. Garet cast his signature Heat Wave ability and sent a wall of fire crashing into the ape, inflicting heavy damage.

This caused the ape to roar again, throwing the adepts off balance as the sound assaulted their minds. Isaac was a bit shaken from the sounds but managed to roll out of the way of the ape's follow up swing and get away with only a minor cut.

Mia healed it back up again for Isaac as Garet used a flare attack to daze the creature from the bright light and do some damage. Isaac took a swing at the beast while he had an opportunity and connected with its leg, tearing a deep gash and soaking his blade in blood. Mia unleashed the pure elemental power of mercury in the form of light blue blasts that knocked the ape off balance. After that all it took was another lightning attack from Ivan and Heat Wave from Garet to finally fell the beast.

Isaac wiped the blood off his sword on the grass and sheathed his weapon before turning back to the group. "That was well executed guys. We took that thing down with only minor injuries despite how strong it was," he said with a smile.

"I'm just glad we can finally leave this forest," Ivan said. "Following random apes around isn't exactly my idea of a logical form of navigation..." he muttered, turning toward the exit. Mia grinned and Garet laughed at his discomfort as they turned to follow him.

"Let's get some distance between ourselves and this forest before setting up camp for the night," Isaac suggested, joining the rest of the group and earning a snicker from Ivan. "What?" Isaac asked the younger blonde boy who waved it off. "Nothing, nothing..." Ivan said, turning with a smile and heading for the exit.

"You have a bit of ape blood on your face," Mia explained to Isaac with a giggle, reaching up to wipe off the stray drop of red with her finger. "There," she said after it was gone, and started to follow the others out of the forest.

Garet just shrugged at the scene and nonchalantly said, "I thought it suited you nicely. I wasn't going to mention it."

"Thanks for actually telling me Mia...unlike some people," Isaac said turning to stare at Garet in mock irritation. The fiery haired adept turned and flashed him a grin and a thumbs up as Isaac fell into step and the group exited the forest.

Despite being tired from navigating the forest and the fight with the final ape, the group of adepts walked on for a while so they wouldn't be too close to the forest at night. When they had traveled enough they stopped and began to set up tents as well as build a fire to cook dinner on. It didn't take long to get ready and after a few minutes Isaac and Mia were cooking dinner for the group on the fire.

Tonight they were making a stew and it had to simmer for a bit before eating so Garet made up an excuse to get his growling stomach away from the delicious smell of food by saying, "I'm going to go check out our surroundings and make sure we're safe."

Ivan volunteered to go with him and watch his back, "To make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," leaving Isaac and Mia to finish up the stew. Isaac was stirring the pot while Mia chopped up vegetables and herbs to add some flavor to the mixture. They worked for a while in silence to make the stew until Isaac's hand slipped and he burned himself on the hot pot.

"Ah..." Isaac let out in pain, pulling his hand away from the fire quickly and examining the burned skin on his hand. Before Isaac could heal it up, Mia had grabbed his hand and was inspecting it. "Are you okay?" she asked in concern while simultaneously casting a healing spell on the burn.

Isaac smiled as the pain washed away and the spell took effect. "Yes, I think it will be fine. It wasn't too bad in the first place," he reassured Mia.

She let out a sigh of relief and decided to scold him a bit. "You should be more careful Isaac," Mia admonished. "You guys all get plenty of injuries in combat so you should try to minimize the ones like this from careless mistakes," she added.

Isaac just smiled at her and replied with, "Thanks for healing it Mia."

"You're welcome. Just...be careful okay? I don't want to have to tell Garet and Ivan you can't fight tomorrow because you burned your hand making stew you know," she said.

"Oh god, Garet's complaining would be legendary. You know he'd complain about having to do extra work to make up for my injury or something," Isaac thought out loud.

Mia laughed at Isaac's serious expression and held out the spoon to him. "Exactly. And I don't want to listen to that so help me dish up this stew...and be careful this time," she added.

Isaac took the spoon and the bowls Mia handed to him. "Yes...point taken. I think I'll be extra careful," he said with a smile.

Garet and Ivan made their reappearance at exactly the right time as Mia took the full bowls and began to distribute them among party members. Feeling the need to at least report something back, Garet said, "Looks like there isn't too much around, but we did take care of some wolves that were nearby."

Ivan indicated Garet's arm as he accepted his bowl of stew from Mia. "You might want to check that out though, one of them actually got a bite on him," he said.

Mia frowned and said, "Let's see it," when she walked up to Garet and the tall red haired boy sheepishly extended his arm for her to inspect. A quick Ply was all it took to mend the skin, but Mia still had questions for him. "How did that even happen?" she asked, confused at the thought of a wolf actually getting the upper hand on Garet.

Isaac sat down and took a sip of his stew, prepared for the show that was about to unfold. Garet squirmed slightly and said, "I was fighting them and misjudged the reach of the big one so he bit me when I didn't expect it."

Mia looked at him quizzically, not really believing it and Ivan snorted. "More like you were entertained by herding the wolves with fire and forgot they like to bite you," he said.

"Oh shut up," Garet said to Ivan. "At least I wasn't making them dizzy with whirlwinds and watching them try to run after spinning around."

"But I didn't get bit," the blonde boy retorted smugly.

Mia let out a heavy sigh. "You two are both idiots," she said, causing Isaac to laugh as he watched from the sidelines. "Don't think I forgot about you," Mia said, rounding on Isaac who had to finish the spoonful of stew he had before raising his arms in surrender.

"To be fair, I only burned my hand slightly on the pot. It's not like I was purposely toying with wolves," Isaac pointed out.

Mia gave up and sat down with the rest to eat her stew. "Sometimes I find it hard to believe that Isaac was able to handle all your random mishaps himself before I came along," she said shaking her head slowly with a fake incredulous look at each of them.

Garet wasn't about to let it go though. "Oh? Is it only our mishaps? Is that why Isaac had to help you across the logs today?" he asked, revealing his trump card with a huge grin.

Mia went red for a second, reliving the embarrassment of tripping and falling into the water once again and stuttered when she replied, unable to deny the accusation. "T-That was...I didn't think anyone noticed that..." she said softly, causing the boys to all crack up.

Isaac smiled at her. "It's okay. We all have our embarrassing moments as you very well know," he said.

Mia decided to just make herself busy with eating and after a few more quips, the rest of the adepts noticed their hunger and wolfed down their food as well.

Garet was the first done and gave the group a wave. "Well I'm going to go pass out. I'm tired as hell and don't have a watch tonight," he said. Isaac, Mia, and Ivan told him goodnight as he disappeared into his tent. Ivan followed suit shortly after, asking to be woken up when it was his turn for watch.

Isaac turned to Mia and said, "You should get some rest too. It's been a long day. I'll wake you up when it's your turn."

Mia nodded and said goodnight to Isaac before ducking into their tent and laying down on her bedroll. _Their tent. _It still sounded funny to say the tent belonged to both herself and Isaac, as normally a situation like that would never be permissible. _I suppose it's just another oddity of our journey, _the cerulean haired girl mused. _At first it was totally weird and I was skeptical about the situation but I guess I got used to it. It even seems sort of normal now..._

_It's only been a few weeks so far and already my whole life is changing, _she thought. _It's nerve inducing and exciting at the same time. Even though this quest is a serious matter...its fun to travel the world with my new friends,_ Mia smiled as those thoughts carried her off to sleep.

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I hope you enjoyed reading the first chapter as much as I did writing it. This is sort of an into chapter just to give you a feel for the mood and camaraderie between characters before I jump deeper into the plot so expect a lot more to come!


	2. Premontions in Xian

**Chapter 2: Premonitions in Xian**

The town of Xian was a pleasant looking place. As they stepped through the entryway to town, Isaac, Mia, Garet, and Ivan were overcome by the sweet smell of blooming flowers and the vibrant colors all around the town. The four adepts stood out easily among their surroundings due to their adventuring gear and clothes they had with them. The locals in the area stopped what they were doing as the newcomers approached and watched with interest as they slowly walked deeper into town. Eventually a young man in a martial arts training garb approached them and greeted them.

"Welcome to Xian travelers. Is there something we can assist you with?" the man asked kindly.

Isaac stepped up and replied saying, "We were just looking to stock up on supplies before continuing on our journey if you have anything available."

The man smiled and nodded. "I can show you the way to our shops. Follow me." Isaac thanked the man and stepped in line with the others as he led them deeper into town. "So where did you come from?" their guide asked curiously.

"Well the last town we were in was Kolima," Garet replied trying to answer the question.

Hearing that, the guide stopped and turned around to face the group. "Wait...does that mean you came through the Mogall Forest to get here?" he asked them. When Ivan confirmed that for him he inspected the group again with a mixture of surprise and respect. Getting excited, he explained his reaction. "We thought it was impossible to get back through the Mogall Forest these days. If you truly came through there I must take you to see Master Feh!"

"Who is master Feh?" Mia asked in her typical calm tone.

"Master Feh is the leader of this village and a master of Chi. He will be very interested in knowing how you got through the forest," the guide explained.

"Chi...what is that?" Isaac asked him.

The guide just shook his head. "I am not the right person to explain it fully. You should speak to Master Feh of this as well. I can take you to him now," the guide offered, pointing at the martial arts dojo resting on top of a nearby hill.

Isaac nodded his acceptance and followed the guide in the new direction, interested in what sort of power this "Chi" was and who Master Feh might be.

Upon stepping foot into the temple the party was immediately greeted by shouting as a conflict was taking place. There was an older man clad in robes near a door leading deeper inside the dojo and he was arguing with a girl near the entrance where Isaac and his friends stood while a crowd of martial arts students looked on.

The first thing he noticed about the girl was that she had bright purple hair and was speaking very quickly so it was hard to catch what she was saying.

Isaac overheard their guide say, "Oh no, not again..." and when Isaac indicated he had heard him by looking over, the guide explained the situation sheepishly.

"Feizhi...that is the girl in front of you...," he indicated with his hand. "Well recently she's been getting into arguments with the Master due to some recent predictions of hers," he tried to explain. "She's been able to foresee certain events before they happened recently, but her father just believes it's all luck. Nobody really knows what to think since so far she hasn't been wrong," he added.

Isaac looked back at the girl again with renewed curiosity. _Purple hair...I wonder... _his thoughts were interrupted by the argument again when the older man spoke.

"Bah! Nothing but coincidence I say. Hsu is just late. You don't need to worry about him," Master Feh said.

The purple haired girl, Feizhi, was obviously frustrated. "Did I not predict the Mogall Forest?" she asked. "What about the flood of Altin?"

A dojo student spoke up to back up her claims. "You did! You somehow predicted both of them. We were all very surprised."

"I have heard this all before," Master Feh interjected. "It is a surprising series of events, but is only just that. Nothing has happened to Hsu."

"Fine then," Feizhi replied. "If you will not help him then I will go myself!" she exclaimed and turned, walking out the door. As she did so her eyes met Isaac's for a moment and he noticed that they were a deep violet color to match her hair. For a second there was a hint of surprise on Feizhi's face as she noticed the group of newcomers standing there before she gave him a slight smile and went out the door.

_Purple hair...violet eyes...predicting the future...could she be- _Isaac's thoughts once again got cut off as Master Feh spoke again. "Ah, do not worry about her. She cannot go far alone." The Master had walked up to the group of adepts while they were distracted by the scene that just took place. Composing himself and quickly turning to face Master Feh, Isaac introduced himself and the rest of his friends. "So then what brings you here to our dojo?" Master Feh asked.

Before anyone could answer, the student that had guided them here spoke up. "Master Feh, they said they came through the Mogall Forest!"

"The Forest you say..." the old man said, looking them over with interest. "In that case you must know some form of Chi...Could you show me your Chi?" he asked the group.

"Could he mean psynergy?" Mia asked the others.

Ivan noticed the log standing up on a stump in the middle of dojo and pointed it out to Garet. "You could probably use force on that to show them psynergy if that's what they want," he said.

Garet nodded and stepped forward slightly to give himself a direct path to the log. Raising his hand and extending it toward the log, he cast Force and the log fell over, drawing the attention of the rest of the dojo. "Is that what you were looking for?" Garet asked Master Feh.

"Hmm...well the tree did fall..." the old man began to say.

"Is something wrong Master?" one of the students asked.

"No...it's just...that is not Chi. It is similar to Chi, but is not Chi," he added, stroking his beard in thought. "If that is the case...then I see how you passed through the Mogall forest. Unlike Chi your power is the power of the mind, not the body."

Addressing his students, Master Feh explained that what Garet had used is something they called "Ki" and that it is the specialty of the Fuchin Temple on the other side of the forest. Turning back to the adepts he said, "If you can use Ki then it is no surprise you were able to make it through the forest."

"Anyway, welcome to our village wanderers. Feel free to check our stores for any provisions you need or train with us here in the dojo if you wish," Master Feh said.

After thanking the Master for his kind welcome, the party stepped out the door to buy provisions, and once again saw the purple haired girl Feizhi leaning up against a fence. She struck Isaac as surprisingly peaceful compared to how she was in her argument with Master Feh.

Noticing the adepts, Feizhi smiled and approached them. "Sorry for the poor introduction to our dojo earlier. My name is Feizhi," She said with an introductory bow.

"Well met Feizhi," Isaac said with a bow in response. "I am Isaac and this is Garet, Mia, and Ivan," he said, indicating each member of the group in turn.

"So Isaac...you are all warriors are you not?" she asked, tilting her head slightly sideways with a curious expression on her face.

Isaac processed the question for a second and replied, "Well... 'adventurers' might be a bit more accurate, but essentially yes we are."

Smiling again, Feizhi asked another question. "You wouldn't happen to be heading west would you? I couldn't help but overhear that you came through the Mogall Forest..." she trailed off.

Isaac nodded and replied once again. "We are. We have to follow the silk road west to get to where we're going," he explained.

Feizhi looked excited at the answer, though she remained outwardly calm and collected. "In that case, I have a favor to ask of you," the purple haired girl explained.

Now it was Isaac's turn to be curious. _What could this girl want with us? _He wondered. "Sure. What is it?" Isaac asked.

"Well..." Feizhi began a bit timidly. "I was hoping that if you are going to head west that I could follow you for a bit...you see my friend..." she started to explain.

Now Isaac understood. "Ah this is about your prediction isn't it? I see..." Feizhi nodded in reply. "You're worried about your friend but can't head out that way alone with all the monsters around now right?" Isaac added with a smile.

"Percicely," Feizhi said. "Unfortunately, I don't have the means to fight off the monsters on my own, but I really want to check up on Hsu since I'm sure something has happened."

Isaac turned to the rest of the party with a smile. "Well?" he asked them, knowing what the response to his unasked question was going to be. Garet shrugged, Mia nodded, and Ivan said, "We might as well help her since we're heading that way anyway."

Isaac turned back to Feizhi. "You heard him. We understand the need to protect our friends as well."

Garet nodded solemnly at this statement, thinking back to part of the reason for their whole quest. "That's right," he added.

Isaac smiled at the purple haired girl. "We'd be honored to have you with us and help find your friend Feizhi," he stated.

A faint pink tinge appeared on Feizhi's checks, and she hurriedly replied. "Thank you so much! It really means a lot to me to know you'll help me out," she said, bowing once again.

Isaac continued to look at her for a few seconds, trying to figure her out. She was a beautiful girl for sure and seemed to follow a strict code of manners in conversation, but just beneath the surface was a lively and fun personality. _And I still wonder if those predictions she has could be because of psynergy..._._Well, whatever. I guess I have at least a day or two to figure it out_, he thought with a smile.

"Isaac?" Mia's voice came from in front of him.

"Oh…yes?" Isaac replied to the unexpected question.

"You seem lost in thought over there," Mia pointed out, and Isaac realized everyone had started walking without him realizing it.

He laughed when he noticed he was indeed lagging behind. "Sorry, Sorry!" he told everyone, waving it off. "Let's get going then," he added, following after the rest of the group.

As they walked on the silk road toward Lama Temple the conversation was mostly directed at their purple haired companion Feizhi. As it turned out, Feizhi was quite personable and outgoing, even if her polite mannerisms sometimes overrode her more outgoing traits. She also had a great sense of humor and would be laughing along with Garet and Ivan whenever either cracked a joke to lighten the mood.

When asked about her powers of foresight, Feizhi explained that she was hit in the head with a psynergy stone one day and that's when her apparently dormant powers unlocked, lending credibility to Isaac's theory that her visions were in fact psynergy based.

After peppering Feizhi with enough questions, the chatter gradually died down and most of people's attention went into watching for monsters near the road.

"I'm glad you agreed to have me along, you know," Feizhi said, dropping back a bit to walk alongside Isaac on the path. "I get the feeling that you actually believed me about my visions of the future from the start. Everyone else I know was at least skeptical at first," the purple haired girl explained with a smile, clasping her hands behind her back in contentment as she walked.

Isaac looked over at the girl and smiled. "Well I had a hunch about it…and I'm pretty sure it's right after hearing your story with the psynergy stone," he explained. "I knew visions of the future are possible for Jupiter aligned adepts and assumed you had to be one."

"Maybe so, but I still can't do anything even approaching what you guys can," she said shyly. "I remember you mentioning that Ivan is also a Jupiter adept, but I think conjuring storms and whirlwinds like that might be a bit out of my league."

Isaac laughed. "Well to be fair, you just found out recently you had these powers at all. Ivan has had them for a long time and has had our whole journey so far to practice those skills and improve them."

"Hmm…well maybe control will come with time then. I sort of wish I could choose when to see the future and when not to…" Feizhi said.

"I don't know if I'd like to see the future personally," Isaac replied. "Then it would feel like…I think it would feel like there's only one possible ending, only one destiny for us and that we're tied to it…" He paused. "I'm not sure I'd like knowing my fate ahead of time…"

Feizhi didn't reply for a moment as she contemplated the thought and let a small smile grace her lips. "I suppose that's true as well. Maybe not knowing is the best way for it to be…"

She let out a sigh before asking Isaac a question. "So what do you see in your future? If you could choose your destiny what would it be? What do you want in your life?"

Isaac faltered for a second as the weight of that question hit him. _What is it that I want in my life?_ "That's a deep question and something that would require some serious thought to actually answer. I guess the immediate thing that comes to mind are my friends," Isaac stated, glancing at the other three adepts in the group one by one. "I just want us all to be able to get home safely at the end of this," he said truthfully. "I don't think I could handle it if we lost someone along the way."

Isaac lapsed into silence after that statement and Feizhi sensed the seriousness of the moment, staying quiet until the silence became awkward.

"I-um….Sorry that question was quite personal…." She managed to say softly, snapping Isaac out of his stupor.

"Oh! No…not at all…It was a fine question and I just got lost in thought is all," Isaac said sheepishly, giving her a smile and scratching his head in embarrassment for spacing out. In an attempt to stop the awkward feeling in the air, Isaac asked, "What about you? Where do you see yourself in the future Feizhi?"

He never did get to find out the answer. As Feizhi opened her mouth to reply, both of them heard a loud curse from Garet who was leading the party. Stopping in his tracks, Isaac looked over at what Garet was staring at and almost let out a curse as well.

The road was blocked. Its wasn't blocked like the Bilibin Barricade where all they had to do was push a few boxes around; but it was actually blocked, with giant boulders and rocks completely sealing off any passage through the area.

Garet swore loudly again. Feizhi just stood still for a moment taking in the whole scene before running up toward the rocks shouting Hsu's name, praying for a response on the other side. The confusion played out like this for a few minutes as the adepts and Feizhi searched for any sign of Hsu or a way past the blockage in the road.

Eventually they were forced to give up on both prospects. Feizhi looked like she was about to cry and so Isaac walked over to the purple haired girl and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Don't Worry. If Master Hamma is your mentor, then surely she would have known by now if anything had happened to your friend," he said, trying to allay her fears.

Feizhi sniffed once, but composed herself and rubbed her eyes. In a small voice, not really believing her own words, Feizhi said, "Yes….you're right of course….she would have…she would have known…" She turned away slightly to hide her face as she finished the sentence, trying to hide her own disbelief from the others.

"Maybe there's another way around?" Mia offered as a suggestion. "If we can find another way around we can at least try to get to Lama Temple and see if Hsu is there. If the road is blocked maybe he just went back to the temple?"

There was silence for a moment before Feizhi spoke up with one word. "Altin." She turned around to face the group again and with reasonable composure said, "There's a route through the mines of Altin, but the whole town is flooded. It's the only other way I know to get there."

Garet just grinned at her despite her despair and gave her a thumbs-up. "Well what are we waiting for then? A tiny patch of water hasn't ever stopped us yet!" he said with his usual bravado.

"Actually Garet there was that part of the Mercury Lighthouse when you…" Mia began to point out.

Garet quickly interrupted and said, "Ah, come on Mia! You're ruining the mood!" earning a laugh form the group and even getting a smile from Feizhi for his efforts. "The point is that we aren't done trying yet. To Altin!" he shouted, deliberately pointing in the wrong direction and earning a few more chuckles from the group.

When the adepts began walking again, this time toward the town of Altin, Feizhi had a genuine smile on her face. "Garet can be a goofball sometimes can't he?" the purple haired girl asked Isaac.

This just made Isaac laugh. "You get used to it," he said as they continued on.

The road to Altin kept getting rockier the further they went along on it and despite wanting to reach the actual town before resting, they eventually had to give in and set up camp for the night. Feizhi had brought her own tent along and set it up along with the others as the tired adepts quickly ate dinner and went to pass out for the night.

Isaac was once again on first watch and went over to his tent and grabbed his sword, while Mia yawned and headed for bed like Garet and Ivan. Feizhi sat by the fire watching this relatively normal event unfold and as Isaac started walking back she suddenly turned red and stuttered something unintelligible, but caught the attention of both adepts.

"Hmm….?" Mia asked sleepily, and Feizhi spoke up again, still red in the face.

"You two- You two sleep in the same tent….?" She managed to get out with shock and bewilderment on her face, never having predicted this situation.

Mia just nodded, her tired state not letting her understand just what Feizhi was getting at with her question. "Uh-huh…" she answered plainly.

Feizhi's face was a beet red color and was trying to make sense of what she just found out. "But…But that's so…." She closed her mouth for a second. "So….are you two….like….a couple?" she asked meekly, drawing the half asleep Mia back to the waking world. Both Isaac and Mia could suddenly feel color in their cheeks as it was there turn to get embarrassed.

"We-" Mia began to say.

"It's not-" Isaac tried to say at the same time and they both fell silent, not wanting to interrupt what the other was going to say.

Isaac gestured toward Mia with his hand indicating she should explain. Mia nodded and addressed Feizhi. "We…We aren't like that," she said with a nervous laugh. "We just ended up sharing a tent…and it's kind of a long story…" she added. It was obvious the conversation was making her nervous. "Well I guess it isn't really that complicated of a story….but anyway…that's just how it is," she said, cutting off her rambling.

Isaac nodded to confirm Mia's words and Feizhi sat there, continuing to be bewildered. "That's so….That's so improper….you aren't even…" the purple haired girl mumbled. She finally addressed The cerulean haired girl. "Mia it has to be weird like that sleeping in the same tent…If you want you can use mine as well," she offered, trying to be helpful.

Mia smiled at Feizhi even though she was still embarrassed about the whole situation. "Thanks for the offer, but it's okay," Mia told her, blushing slightly darker. "Yours is made for one person and besides, I've gotten used to it and it just feels normal now I think," she added. Isaac blushed a shade darker at those words as well but nobody really noticed considering the low light and how Feizhi was currently the center of attention.

"N-n-n-normal?" Feizhi stammered out, trying to regain her composure and failing miserably. She sighed and spoke again. "Are…are you sure you aren't like…dating or something?" she asked the two of them again.

Isaac was finally able to find his sense of humor about the situation and let out a little laugh. "No…we aren't dating or anything. It would be pretty hard to be dating while we were on a journey like this anyway," he pointed out.

"Oh…..I suppose that's true," Feizhi admitted before falling silent along with the other two.

Mia got fed up with the awkward tension in the air and tried to end it. "A-Anyway…I'm going to go to sleep…I'm really tired," she said, heading once again for the tent and waving goodnight to Isaac and Feizhi.

After Mia left, Isaac and Feizhi continued to sit in awkward silence until Feizhi laid back on the ground and looked up at the stars. "I hope you were right about Master Hama sensing the same thing as me," she said, trying to change the subject.

Isaac just sat looked over at the purple haired girl laying prone on the ground, looking up at the stars and sighed. "You're still holding your feelings back from earlier aren't you?" he asked.

Feizhi turned her head toward him on the grass and said, "What do you mean?" in a sincere tone.

Isaac didn't budge and just pushed on with his inquiry. "You don't need to hide it you know," he said. "I could tell you were really worried about Hsu at the blocked path and didn't display your true feelings."

Feizhi sat up and opened her mouth to try and deny it, but as she did a single tear ran down her face and she closed her mouth again. As the tear dropped from her face and hit the ground, something broke inside of her and her composed demeanor shattered.

She pushed herself forward and into Isaac, burying her head in his shoulder as the tears she was so reluctant to let out before came forth in a tide of emotion. Isaac was surprised by the reaction but wrapped his arms around Feizhi and gently held the girl to comfort her as she sobbed away all her pent up fears.

As Feizhi's tears continued to come, Isaac thought back to the situation in the first place. _That blockage of the road still bothers me. It may look natural due to the shattered rocks and boulders…but it blocked the way through just a bit too perfectly…_

Isaac's eyes narrowed as he continued down his line of thought. _I have a sneaking suspicion I know exactly how that rockslide happened…and who caused it._

_But if Felix is with them…_

_I can't imagine that he would have fallen so far as to sacrifice innocent lives just to slow us down…_

_I just…don't think Felix would be able to do that…_

As Feizhi's crying began to die down, Isaac spoke up. "Hey, Feizhi…" he said, looking up to the stars as he addressed her. "I may not be a Jupiter adapt or anything…and I can't read the future…but I have a hunch that Hsu's going to be all right."

Maybe it was the certainty of his voice or the conviction he felt when saying it, but Feizhi finally lifted her head from his shoulder and Isaac could see the streaks on her face from the tears she had shed. "Are you sure?" she asked quietly.

"We will find him," Isaac confirmed with a smile.

Feizhi gave the blonde haired boy a weak smile, her resolve bolstered by Isaac's own confidence. She sat up opened her mouth to thank Isaac. "Thank y-" was all she got off before suddenly freezing in place, staring at Isaac.

In the moment Isaac could have sworn he saw a flash of violet, but it was so fleeting he might have hallucinated it. "Feizhi?" he probed, suddenly worried.

In the next second, Feizhi nearly collapsed to the ground, propping herself up with her arms and taking deep breaths. Isaac moved over to get a hold of her, but she held out a hand to stop him as she continued to recover.

Another few seconds went by of heavy breathing before Feizhi finally spoke. "I saw Isaac…I saw it…."

It took a moment of comprehension before it dawned on Isaac. _Did she…just have a vision? _

"It was you…" she said. "I saw you…there was a brilliant bright light, like a sun. You were…you were up high...like on a tower or something," she managed to get out before turning toward Isaac to see his reaction.

Each word out of Feizhi's mouth put dread into Isaac's heart. _Could that be…? Could she have seen the next lighthouse? But if the beacon is lit…and I'm the only one she saw…_

Feizhi, slowed her breathing back to normal and managed to sit back up as she saw the shock etched onto Isaac's face.

"Feizhi…was I…was anyone else there?" Isaac asked in as controlled a voice as he could manage.

Realizing what he was thinking, she knew she had to be truthful, but avoid absolutes. "I…there could have been others there…," she began to say. "…But you were the only one I actually saw."

For a moment Isaac just sat there, soaking in what she was saying. Feizhi knew she had triggered something inside of him, a hidden fear that he had not shared with anyone and did not have the desire to do so.

As Isaac continued to sit there in silence, Feizhi realized something had to be done. "Isaac…I think…I think you should probably get some sleep," she suggested.

Her voice snapped Isaac out of his thoughts. Though he was obviously not himself, Isaac replied. "You're right…I probably just need some sleep…"

Feizhi gave him a slight smile as that was all she could offer and said, "Don't worry about your watch. I can handle it for you. You need to rest I think."

Isaac looked over at her with a half blank gaze. "Are you sure?" he asked.

Feizhi tried to give him another smile but couldn't force herself to do it and had to settle for just being neutral instead of frowning. "Of course," she said. "You've helped me a lot today already and you did all the fighting while I just watched," she gave as an explanation.

Isaac gave her an extremely forced smile and said "Goodnight," before slowly standing up and trudging off to bed.

As Isaac entered his tent, he couldn't get Feizhi's vision off his mind. Looking over at the peacefully sleeping form of Mia in the bedroll next to his, he drifted off to sleep.

_Feizhi…I really hope you're wrong._

_I really hope you're wrong…_


	3. Detour Through Altin

**Chapter 3: Detour Through Altin**

The sounds of combat echoed loudly through the cavernous rooms of the Altin Mine as Isaac, Mia, Garet, and Ivan fought off the various monsters that called the caves home. Upon arriving in the town of Altin, the adepts found that Feizhi's prediction was in fact correct and that most of the lower levels of town had been flooded, including a large part of the mine itself. What was unexpected was the cause of the flooding. Ancient animated statues had triggered the flood and were continuing to spew water into their artificially created lake.

Trying to find a way to stop the statues from adding even more water, the adepts had inspected them, only to find that they were aggressive upon approach. They did make one important discovery in the process and found out that for each statue they destroyed, the water level receded slightly. Seizing this hope, the adepts had been slowly making their way to the lower levels of the mine as the water levels lowered after each statue was defeated.

The sharp ring of a sword hitting stone bounced off the walls of the cavern as Mia saw Isaac block an attack from one of the large statues. The hulking animated rocks were quite difficult to damage with physical attacks and so the use of psynergy was an important factor in these fights. It wasn't often that Mia would be called upon to user her offensive psynergy so frequently, yet she was glad to see her ability to command it had remained intact.

As the statue readied another heavy blow headed Isaac's way, Mia took aim and released a bolt of ice that struck the arm of the statue, knocking it off course and into the floor. Isaac took the moment to step back and recover as Garet blasted the thing with a ball of fire, causing the outer rock to crack. Seeing the weak point, Ivan conjured a bolt of lightning and landed a direct hit on the cracked stone, causing the entire body of the statue to crumble apart.

As the shattered pieces of rock settled to the floor, the water line once again receded and allowed the adepts access to a passageway with a ladder at the end. Proceeding forward with the rest of the group, Mia climbed the ladder and looked ahead to see where the ladder lead. All she could see was a long hallway lined with little pieces of rocks that seemed to extend into a dimmer light section. _This looks like the only other path forward_, Mia thought as the others joined her after they also climbed into the hallway. _I hope it leads us to a possible exit._

Continuing up the hallway, the group eventually came to a patch of the path blocked by an upright wooden tree trunk. "Step back, I've got this," Garet said as he rolled up his sleeves and motioned everyone away from the trunk.

"Garet, I'm not sure that's such a good id-" Feizhi began to say as Garet used his Force psynergy to knock the piece of wood out of the way. Garet turned back to the group, smiling at his success, when suddenly they all heard a loud crashing noise and the ground started rumbling.

"I'm not sure I like that sound of that," Mia said, turning around to face the group who all echoed the same worried expression back at her.

"I suggest we run," Ivan offered as Feizhi nodded in agreement and began to back down the path they had come.

Suddenly a louder crash was heard and the eyes of the adepts facing Mia grew wide at the sight behind her. "RUN!" she heard Garet yell as they all sprung into action and Mia instinctively turned back around to see what it was they were reacting to.

For a split second all she saw was a massive boulder the width of the hallway rolling toward the group before she felt someone's arms around her waist and she was pulled into a small alcove as the humungous rock rolled right through where they were just standing seconds ago. A few moments later there was another huge crashing sound and some more rumbling before silence finally kicked in.

The boulder had stirred up quite a bit of dust when it passed by and when Mia looked at Isaac, who had pulled her out of the way, she had to stifle a giggle. Bringing her hand up, she brushed some of the dust off Isaac's clothes and hair before doing the same with her robes. Isaac poked his head out to check the coast was clear before looking back at Mia and realizing he was still holding onto her.

Quickly releasing his arms and turning slightly pink he played it off by stepping out into the corridor and checking both directions. "Hey, is everyone else okay?" He called out as Mia stepped into the hall next to him.

Feizhi's distinctive purple hair popped out from an alcove she had ducked into and she was brushing the dust off of her clothes as well. "I'm all right," she said in response.

"All good down here too," Garet yelled up to Isaac, flashing him a thumbs up and a grin from farther down the tunnel.

"You might want to come take a look at this though..." Ivan added, catching everyone's attention.

"Woah..." Garet added to that as he looked over to see whatever Ivan was looking at. Curious at what they had found, Isaac, Mia, and Feizhi made their way down the tunnel toward the pair and were surprised to find a gaping hole in the floor of the room where the boulder has smashed down.

By the time they arrived, Garet was already using a piece of mine track that had been bent into the hole by the boulder's impact as a ladder and was climbing down into the chamber below. As he touched down and looked around, he froze. "Oh boy, it's a big one..." he whispered back up to the group above, motioning for them to come down as well. "I think I found the main cause behind the floods," he added quietly.

Shrugging, Ivan followed him down next, then Mia, Isaac, and Feizhi followed afterward. The short hallway they had climbed into was decorated with different color stones and tiles on the wall and looked to be very, very old. At the end was a massive statue standing on a small flight of steps. "You think the flooding will stop if we take this one out?" Ivan whispered, drawing his weapon in preparation for the impending fight.

"It's worth a shot," Garet replied and Feizhi added, "It may give us another route through the mines too if the flooding completely disappears."

With a nod from Isaac and Mia, the four adepts crept slowly forward in the direction of the statue and Isaac said, "Feizhi, just watch our backs and make sure nothing else shows up from behind."

The purple haired girl gave him a quick acknowledgement and stepped back to give the 4 more room to fight. The giant animated statue finally noticed the approaching group and wasted no time in going aggressive, conjuring shards of ice that it sent flying at the adepts. Everyone quickly dodged out of the way and took up battle positions as they moved in closer to the monstrous construct.

A swing from the statue's arm created a gouge in the floor, showing the power of a blow from this creature as Isaac nimbly jumped out of the way. Mia kicked things off with a Glacier spell, attempting to slow the statue down or freeze it in place to make the fight easier on the others, but it only did minor damage due to the statue's high resistance to Mercury spells. Garet and Ivan followed up with psynergy based attacks of their own and Isaac got in close to hold the creature's attention.

The being took another quick swipe at Isaac, who was forced to deflect it with his sword, and then it released large orbs of watery energy in all directions. Isaac was too close to dodge and was knocked to the floor when some near him exploded, while Garet, Ivan, and Mia dodged out of the way as the orbs neared them.

Seeing an opening while Isaac was still on the floor, the statue took another swing at him while he was still on the ground. A wall of ice, conjured by Mia prevented the blow from landing and gave Isaac time to back off as Garet moved in to take his place.

Mia began casting a healing spell to mend Isaac's wounds from the water orbs even while Isaac used his Stone Spire psynergy to drop sharp rocks from the ceiling of the cavern on their foe.

Moving with surprising speed for such a large enemy, the statue changed direction and came charging at Mia, forcing her to dive out of the way. Garet took the chance and unleashed two of his Djinn in a row to set the monster back and inflict heavy damage on the Mercury aligned creation.

If it was possible for a stature to look mad, this one certainly did and retaliated by shooting a dense watery cloud at Garet and Ivan who scrambled to get out of the way. Garet managed to avoid most of it, but Ivan was hit and began coughing as the side effects of the spell became clear. Ivan stumbled as he entered a delirious state and almost fell, but before he could, Mia had cleansed the heavy fog from his head and brought him back to his senses.

With a nod of thanks at the cerulean haired girl, Ivan backed off to prepare a spell. Isaac summoned an earthquake underneath the statue to throw it off balance as it tried to defend itself. The crash of thunder sounded and pushed their foe back several meters when Ivan's Plasma attack scored a direct hit. Garet unleashed the power of his final Djinni Fever and struck the construct with a mighty blow.

Enraged once more, the living statue lashed out at the only person in range, Isaac. Mia saw the blonde boy parry one of the attacks at full force and unable to deflect it, get knocked across the room and slam into the cavern wall. "No!" she yelled out quickly, rushing to his side to determine the extent of the damage. She could see he was bleeding from multiple wounds as he picked himself off the floor and she began to panic, _You have to be okay Isaac! Please don't be bad..._

Mia heard Isaac call out her name and watched as his face changed from fear to horror. She suddenly felt a sharp impact from behind her and was knocked off course as she fell to the ground. She watched in slow motion as Isaac stood up and stumbled before running to where she was and sliding to the ground next to her in a panic.

_What...What happened? _She wondered, looking up at the blonde boy above her, when she felt the healing psynergy of the earth begin to flow through her body. _Ah...I must have been hit..._she realized, blinking slowly and trying to make sense of the world around her. As Isaac's healing continued, the world returned to normal speed and all the pain finally hit her.

From somewhere behind Isaac, Garet yelled out. "Tiamat! I call you!"

There was a burst of reddish light and Mia closed her eyes to block it out. When she opened them, Isaac was still over her, continuing to heal her injuries. Noticing that she was completely coherent again, the blond hair boy let out a sigh of relief. "Ice shards," he explained. "Thankfully you're aligned with the Mercury element and were somewhat resistant to that particular attack," he added.

To her surprise, Mia noticed that the pain was mostly gone and she sat up slowly to take in her surroundings. Isaac turned his attention to his own wounds and began to heal himself as well and when Mia noticed he was still injured, she called upon her psynergy to help. "It looked a lot worse than it was," Isaac said in relief with a hint of a smile, referencing Mia's injuries.

"So did yours," the Mercury adept replied as she realized that despite the amount of blood she saw, Isaac had only sustained superficial injuries.

Garet walked over and offered both of them a hand to help them up which they gladly accepted. "I know you can handle the minor injuries," Garet said with a grin.

Feizhi walked up behind Garet. "Are you both okay?" she asked, looking over each adept with concern.

Both adepts were still a bit shaken up, but they were no longer injured after healing. Isaac gave her a smile to indicate they were going to be fine and Garet spoke up with confidence. "It would take a lot more than that to bring those two down!" he stated.

Feizhi accepted the answer as a recovered Isaac moved toward the crumbling remains of the statue that Garet had finished off by summoning a powerful fire spirit, and examined the room. Other than the decorative and ancient walls, the only thing of interest was the small chest on the stairs behind where the large statue stood.

Opening it revealed a single small gem pulsing with psynergetic power. Isaac slowly picked it up and as he held it in his hand he could feel the knowledge of a new type of psynergy forming in his mind. _Lift._ Then it clicked and everything made sense to him.

"Remember that rock that was blocking our path to Lama Temple earlier in the mine?" he asked everyone else with a big smile.

They all looked at him for a moment before remembering the place he was talking about. When they recalled the spot he mentioned, Isaac continued, "Well I know how we can get past it now."

This news met with an overwhelming sense of excitement as everyone realized they had actually found a way through the mines to the other side. It didn't take long for the group to backtrack the way they came and find the path that was previously blocked to them. Isaac demonstrated the power of the new psynergy he had learned and lifted the rock out of the way so that they could pass through.

From that point it was only a short walk through the mountain until they emerged into the daylight on the other side. With renewed purpose, the group made their way toward the Lama Temple visible on the horizon.

As they walked under the midday sun, Mia took the time to assess the condition of the group in case Hsu was not at the temple and it became necessary to conduct a search. Fortunately each member of the group seemed to be fine, even after the tough battle with the final statue in the mines.

Ivan and Garet were laughing and joking together as usual and it made Mia smile. _Nothing seems to ever dampen their spirits, _she thought. _No matter what the situation, Garet and Ivan will always have some joke or trick to lighten the mood and help us move forward._

Changing her focus to Isaac, Mia was pleased to see he wasn't even fazed from the fight anymore. _It seems I sometimes get worried for nothing when it comes to him...I don't know wh,y but all of his injuries always seem to look worse than they are..._

At that moment, Isaac turned around to look behind him and caught Mia looking in his direction. The blonde haired boy gave her a smile when he saw she was looking his way. Mia felt a flash of embarrassment that he had seen her checking up on him and then it dissipated as quickly as it came.

_There's nothing wrong with checking to make sure he's fine! _Mia told herself as she felt the embarrassment slip away. _What's with that reaction anyway...? _She asked herself. _After all, Isaac was just doing the same thing that I was. _Mia sighed and tilted her head back to look up at the clouds as she walked, trying to make senseof that random moment.

_Isaac's been on my thoughts a lot recently, _she realized. _I often find myself overreacting to situations involving him too..._She sighed softly. _I guess that's just because we became close friends so quickly...? Spending every hour of the day with someone is bound to keep them on your mind, _she decided.

Unable to reach the conclusion she was looking for, the cerulean haired girl gave up and looked back over at where Isaac was talking with Feizhi. The purple haired girl seemed to be in a cheerful mood, despite the circumstances involving her presence with them, though she was a bit of an enigma to Mia. The cerulean haired girl wasn't quite sure what to think about this temporary addition to their group.

_She is really pretty, _Mia admitted, looking at Feizhi. _If I had to guess, I'd say some of the other dojo students might be interested in her, though I wonder what he father would have to say about that. _Mia smiled, stifling a laugh at the thought of Master Feh's reaction in that sort of situation.

A moment later she overheard Feizhi ask Isaac about the flowers they had seen in Xian and what he thought of them. "They were very beautiful," came Isaac's response. "I think we were all surprised to see so many different colors when we walked through town," he added.

This answer brought a bright smile to Feizhi's face and she walked ahead slightly so she could turn and face Isaac directly, walking backward to maintain pace with him.

"Since you enjoyed those, you should really see the gardens at the Lama Temple," the purple haired girl said. "I'd be happy to show you after we find Hsu if you wish," she offered with a smile.

Isaac smiled back at her. "Sure. I'd love to see the gardens before we leave," Isaac said simply. His reply made Feizhi 's smile widen and she turned around to continue walking forward again.

Mia saw the short little scene play out in front of her, yet assigned it a high significance. _Is Feizhi..._ Mia's heart began to beat a little bit faster. _I wonder if she has a thing for Isaac? Maybe it's just my imagination...but she has spent most of her time with us talking to Isaac though..._

Mia frowned, not sure if she was completely misreading the situation and really not sure what to make of it if she was actually right. Something about the exchange just didn't sit right with her and she felt odd thinking about it at all so Mia just tried to brush it off. _Why does it matter to me either way? _She wondered. _It has nothing at all to do with me so why do I care...?_

Mia gave a sigh of frustration. _All my thoughts today are just a jumbled mess I can't make sense of. It's really bugging me because I feel like I'm missing something obvious, but I don't know what it is..._

Fortunately she didn't have to dwell on her frustration because the adepts had reached the Lama Temple. Feizhi adopted a more serious demeanor once again and told the adepts to follow her as she hurried up to the door of the temple and stepped inside.

The first thing Feizhi did was call out, "Master Hama! Where is Hsu?"

As Isaac, Mia, Garet, and Ivan stepped inside as well they saw another purple haired woman who could only be Hama sitting cross legged on the floor in front of Feizhi with an expression of mild surprise on her face.

"Hsu?" she asked.

"He left to return home early this morning," Hama said.


	4. What the Future Holds

**Chapter 4: What the Future Holds**

There was a serious mood in the air as the group of adepts arrived at the blocked passage on the Silk Road along with Feizhi and Master Hama. Hsu had already left the Lama Temple by the time they arrived but nobody had heard from him since. Master Hama was especially surprised to hear Feizhi's vision of Hsu in trouble because she had not sensed it herself and thought she had failed to pass the ability of future sight to Feizhi in the first place. Despite all this, her surprise at these changes would have to wait for later because the first priority was to find Hsu and bring him home safe.

The blockage of the road was just as complete on the western side of the path as it was in the east and it didn't seem like there was any way forward from this side either. Fortunately looking around a bit revealed a small cave nearby that lead deeper into the mountain pass and allowed the adepts to forge onwards, looking for any sign of Hsu.

For Isaac, the only good news so far was that Hsu had left the morning after they had first come upon the blockage and couldn't have been there when all the rocks fell. Though that didn't mean Hsu was completely safe, it did mean that Felix did not purposely trap the younger boy in the landslide.

The group continued carefully picking their way through the various small cave systems that allowed them to get deeper into the pass, becoming more anxious by the minute without finding the boy. As they once again exited a cave and returned to the bright sunlight, they finally found what they were looking for.

"Hsu!" Feizhi exclaimed when she saw the boy lying on the ground nearby and she ran up to where he was.

Relief washed over the group when Hsu replied. "Feizhi...Master Hama...Boy am I glad to see you."

Hsu was pinned to the ground with his leg caught under a large boulder and he was unable to move. Master Hama approached the boy and knelt down next to him. "Hmm...looks like you're leg is stuck pretty good," she commented, trying to find a way to move the boulder without hurting him.

Feizhi turned to Isaac. "You could help right? You might be able to lift it off of him," she said with a hopeful look.

Isaac nodded and stepped forward. "I can lift the boulder but be ready to pull him out from underneath it when I do." Feizhi and Master Hama nodded and got in position to move Hsu as Isaac used his psynergy to lift the boulder. They slowly pulled Hsu out from underneath the boulder after Isaac raised it off the ground, being careful not to injure Hsu's leg any further.

When the boy was out from under the rock, Isaac let the psynergy go and lowered the massive rock back to the ground. As Mia approached to check out his leg, Hsu glanced at the group of adepts that he had not yet met with a mixture of curiosity and wonder. Feizhi noticed this and began to introduce the group starting with Mia since she was already taking a look at Hsu's leg.

"This is Mia. She's an amazing healer, so let her take a look at your injuries," Feizhi said, pointing out the cerulean haired girl.

Mia gave the Hsu a kind smile and said, "Nice to meet you," as she drew upon her psynergy to help mend his leg.

Feizhi pointed the rest out in turn. "Here's Isaac, Garet, and Ivan. The four of them helped me get past the blockage so we could find you." Each of them gave a nod or a wave when their name was said as an introduction.

Hsu nodded at the group. "It is nice to meet you all as well and thank you for helping Feizhi find me. I'm not sure if I would have ever got that boulder off without your help."

Master Hama stepped forward too. "I should thank you all as well," she said. "Without the four of you helping Feizhi, I would not have known one of my students was stuck here or that Feizhi's power of premonition had awakened," she added with a short nod.

As Mia finished healing the Hsu she help out a hand to him to help the boy up. Taking her hand, Hsu managed to stand up, albeit a bit shakily. Gingerly, he took a few steps to determine the extent of the injury still remaining and Mia explained, "It will still take some time to heal fully, but I did what I could for now."

Hsu turned back to her. "Thank you…Mia was it? I don't think I'd be standing right now, let alone walking, if it wasn't for you."

Mia smiled. "I just did what I could," she replied. Giving a fake pouty face to the rest of the adepts nearby she added, "Dealing with the injuries that these three always manage to get give you good practice for something like this."

Feizhi and Master Hama laughed while Hsu smiled at her statement in amusement. "Well in either case, I appreciate it," Hsu reiterated.

Mia gave him a nod of acknowledgement and said, "Not a problem. We were happy to help."

"We should probably start heading back to Lama Temple now that we've found him," Master Hama said, looking at the sun in the sky. "It might take us a little longer than usual," she added, pointing out Hsu's leg.

The rest of the group agreed and Feizhi turned to ask Hsu if he needed help walking back. Hsu declined the offer saying he was well enough to walk on his own, but Master Hama walked over anyway.

"Oh don't be so stubborn," she said, giving him a shoulder to lean on while walking. Hsu gave her an appreciative nod and though he wouldn't admit to it, he was thankful for the assistance.

It was a long, slow walk back to Lama Temple for the group due to Hsu's injury slowing them down, however they still arrived in the early evening before the sun had fallen below the horizon. When they returned, Master Hama and Hsu returned to the temple where the boy could rest up and get off his injured leg for a while.

Garet and Ivan decided to go find some food for dinner and Mia left to re-stock their supply of healing items and various medicines. This left Isaac to go rent rooms for the night at the local inn and Feizhi elected to accompany the blonde boy.

The innkeeper was grateful for Isaac's assistance in saving Hsu and ended up offering him the two rooms free of charge as a thanks for bringing the boy back safely. After getting the rooms, the pair began to head back to the Lama Temple before Feizhi stopped Isaac.

"Hey…remember when I told you I would have to show you the gardens here once we got back?" the purple haired girl asked him.

Isaac turned to look at her and nodded. "If they're anything like the flowers in Xian, I'm sure they're beautiful," he replied.

Isaac could feel Feizhi's hesitation before she spoke again. "Well…if you want…I could show them to you now…" the girl said timidly, looking away with a pink tinge on her face.

_Why is she suddenly acting so shy? _Isaac wondered before realizing he had not yet given a response. "Sure," he said hurriedly, trying to break the awkward tension that had built up before he spoke.

Feizhi looked back at him with a brilliant smile and said, "You'll love it. Follow me!"

As she led Isaac through the town and up onto a hill behind the Lama Temple where the dirt path made way for the garden, Feizhi was quietly humming a happy tune to herself. As the pair entered the garden Feizhi stopped and said, "Well here we are," indicating everything around them.

Isaac sucked in his breath. _She wasn't lying. This place is absolutely beautiful._ Looking around, he could see flowers of every color blooming along with the pink blossoms of cherry trees hanging all around them. "Feizhi…this is…" Isaac said, unable to finish the thought.

Feizhi giggled at the reaction and said, "I know right!? When I first came here I was overtaken by a sense of wonder as well."

Flushing pink but not letting Isaac see, the purple haired girl quickly grabbed his hand and said "Come on, let me show you more of the garden." She pulled the blond haired boy deeper into the garden, giddy with happiness.

While walking, Feizhi would show him the various plants and flowers along the path as well as the stream and pond where brightly colored koi were swimming around. Isaac could feel that she was fundamentally different from the girl they had met the other day. _She seems like she's just generally happier now…Without a vision of her friend in trouble looming over her she just seems so much more carefree._

"Isaac?" Feizhi asked curiously, breaking him from those thoughts.

Looking up at the girl in front of him, Isaac smiled. "Sorry Feizhi, I missed what you said."

She smiled back and replied. "That's okay. I was just asking if you'd like to watch the sunset," she said, indicating the sun that was about to reach the horizon.

"I would love to," was Isaac's response. Feizhi led him a little farther on the garden path until they reached the edge near a large cherry tree. "I like to come here sometimes because of how peaceful it is," the purple haired girl said as she walked over to the tree and sat under it. Isaac followed her example and sat down next to her as he looked out on the horizon, seeing the temple and town laid out below them on the hill.

_It is very peaceful here_, Isaac thought, looking over at the girl next to him. There was a light breeze rustling through the tree behind them and Feizhi's purple hair was swaying gently back and forth as she looked out at the sunset. The pair sat in silence for a few minutes while the sky slowly turned orange, just enjoying the peaceful moment between them.

"Thanks for bringing me here," Isaac said once the sun had just about halfway disappeared. Puzzled by the lack of a response, Isaac looked over at Feizhi who was nervously playing with her hands in her lap.

Feeling Isaac's gaze on her, the purple haired girl looked over and turned red in embarrassment, but gave him a sweet smile. "I-uh…of course!" she finally said. "I thought you would like it so…" Feizhi trailed off.

Isaac laughed. "I did enjoy it. Thank you."

Silence descended between the two and was only broken when Feizhi spoke again. "Isaac…" she tried to say slowly, getting the blonde boy's attention.

"Hmm?" Isaac questioned as he looked back over at Feizhi. The purple haired girl was staring at him intently with a nervous smile on her face but a serious look in her violet eyes.

"I...Isaac," she said again in a nervous voice before cutting out. "I think…you…" she tried again. She looked down for a second and blushed before looking back at the bewildered blonde boy. "Isaac, I think that I-" she got out before suddenly stopping again.

This time it wasn't nerves or anything of that nature that had stopped her. There was an instantaneous flash of violet light and Feizhi closed her eyes, raising a hand to her head. _It couldn't be another vision…?_ Isaac thought as he put out a hand to steady the girl so she wouldn't fall over in her trancelike state.

"…A child…?" Feizhi mumbled in confusion after a few seconds, too low for Isaac to hear what she said with her eyes still shut tight. "…But then who…are the parents…?" she breathed out, no more than a whisper. Her head suddenly shifted in reaction to something and then she clearly said, "Oh…I see…" in a tone that conveyed an odd combination of both happiness and resignation. "Of course…" she added.

As Feizhi broke out of the trance, she kept looking down for a few seconds before raising her head with a sad smile on her face. Isaac looked at her with concern. "What did you see?" he asked the purple haired girl with curiosity and concern.

Feizhi just shook her head. "Nothing…It's nothing to worry about," she said with that same smile still on her face. Isaac opened his mouth to question her further, but the purple haired girl stopped him by putting a finger to his lips.

"Someone once told me it's better not to know the future so that there are more possibilities in life," she told Isaac. "Don't be too concerned. What I saw was a happy vision," Feizhi explained. "I'm fine," she added, turning to look out at the remainder of the sunset.

Isaac let her be because he could sense she was not going to talk about it no matter what he said and she seemed to be all right. It wasn't long before the last rays of light disappeared over the horizon and Feizhi sighed, laying back in the grass.

"Hey, Isaac…" she said suddenly, turning her head to face him while lying down.

"Yes…?" came Isaac's response.

"Do me a favor," she said, smiling at him. "Make sure you take good care of Mia for me okay?" the purple haired girl added.

Isaac was a bit confused by the seemingly random topic, but answered nonetheless.

"You know I will…" Isaac said.

"Yes, I know," Feizhi replied with a smile.


	5. Oasis of Relaxation

**Chapter 5: Oasis of Relaxation**

The heat of the Lamakan desert was certainly nothing to scoff at. Apparently the temperature had been rising constantly in the area over the last month or so, mirroring the odd natural occurrences that had happened in other regions since the elemental stars were removed from Sol Sanctum.

It wasn't just hot. It was blisteringly hot. Even the light breeze that blew through the desert wasn't helping. In fact, the wind was so hot that it actually made things worse. It was through this hell that the groups of adepts were struggling to continue their journey.

Mia could feel the sand burning her feet each time she took a step forward and the sweltering heat sapping her strength away at an alarming rate. _When will we find an Oasis? _The cerulean haired girl asked herself, wondering just how much more of this any of them could realistically take. Even Garet was having a problem with this place, despite being a fire adept with an exceptional tolerance for heat.

_We just need to find another oasis among the mirages to cool off at, _Mia thought, already imagining the feeling of water soothing her sore feet. She had long since abandoned her traditional Imilian robe, and now wore a light, white summer dress to keep as cool as possible. While it was working out very well for the heat, the dress was completely impractical for combat and made it extremely difficult for her to fight effectively.

"Ah!" Mia let out as she was suddenly yanked off her feet by one of the plantlike creatures that had a habit of hiding in the sand. A thick vine was grasping her leg and pulling her closer to the plant's mouth. Mia tried to summon her psynergy to deal with it, but without being able to see the target there wasn't a whole lot she could actually do.

Fortunately Isaac was there to help out and with a swing of his sword, he sliced off the vine attached to her leg. In the background, Mia heard a crack of thunder that indicated Ivan was attacking the creature. Isaac gave Mia a hand to help her up and she took it, brushing sand off her dress in frustration. "Thanks," she ended up saying to him with a weary smile.

"Of course," was Isaac's equally tired reply.

The pair began to follow after Ivan and Garet who were up ahead and Mia let her irritation out. "These things are like...impossible to avoid because we can't see them at all," she stated.

Isaac nodded in response. "Yeah, there really aren't any good countermeasures for them other than just dealing with them as they appear. We've only been able to notice a handful so far before they attacked."

Mia let out a sigh. "They never seem to go for you guys though, they keep going for me...It's annoying," she said.

Feeling too tired to laugh at her frustration, Isaac just shrugged. "I guess they see you as the best target," he added, not really thinking about how that statement could be taken.

_The best target?! _Mia thought incredulously. _Seriously..._ "What do you mean, 'The best target?'" Mia asked in a dangerous sounding, inquisitive tone.

Isaac cringed at the question when he noticed Mia was staring at him with icy cold eyes, awaiting his response. "I-uh...it sounds worse when you say it like that," Isaac offered sheepishly. "I just meant that you look different than usual without your robe. I think the monsters might see you as less of a threat since you look like you're dressed for like...the beach or something rather than for combat...?" the boy added, hoping he wasn't digging his grave deeper.

Mia seemed confused about how she wanted to react to that. _It's true. I wouldn't normally wear something like this...and maybe it does make me seem more unassuming..._she thought, suddenly self conscious about her appearance. Clutching the dress to stop it from waving around in the warm wind, Mia finally had a response. "Does it really make me look that weird?" she asked Isaac hesitantly.

Isaac quickly waved his hand to emphasize it didn't. "No, no. Not at all. It's just out of the ordinary for you to wear something like that."

"That's like...the definition of weird," Mia said, turning away from the blonde haired boy.

Isaac sighed. "Mia you're missing the point. Your dress is cute. It looks good on you. We're all just so used to seeing you in your robes that..."

Mia didn't really hear the rest of what he said because her face was a healthy shade of pink and her heart had started to beat faster. _Cute...? Looks good...on me...?_ Mia's thoughts were racing as fast as her heartbeat and she had a funny feeling in her chest. _I don't...I don't know what to say to that..._

"Woah...careful there Mia," Isaac said, reaching out and preventing her from tripping over a small sand dune in her path as they continued walking. "You okay?" he asked with a hint of concern for her momentary absentmindedness.

Mia nodded at him and was saved from needing to respond when Ivan yelled out, "Oasis!"

That was certainly a welcome distraction to the Mercury adept and Isaac reacted by looking over at where Ivan was waving at them. "Finally," Isaac said with visible relief as he made his way with Mia over to where Ivan was standing.

"Oh good," Mia added to Isaac's relief. "I've been waiting for another Oasis to show up," she said with a smile at her friend.

The sight of the pool of water before them reduced the tension of the adepts just by looking at it. Refilling their water supplies, all four of them started drinking as much of it as they possibly could just to stay hydrated. As soon as they were done drinking and refilling their canteens, Garet lazily rolled himself into the water and began to float there with his face immersed in the pool. The other three looked at him for a moment before he suddenly burst up and out of the water.

"Thank Mercury!" Garet yelled ironically, praising the element opposite his own and making a show of it. "The water feels absolutely amazing. Get in here!" the Mars adept added before surging toward Isaac and pulling the poor blonde boy into the water.

Isaac came up sputtering after his unexpected immersion to see a grinning Garet who gave him a thumbs up. Mia giggled at the soaking wet blonde boy and Ivan slipped into the pool by himself before he could meet Isaac's fate. Mia scooted up closer to the pool and dipped her legs in, letting out a sigh as the water ran over her skin.

"Well I guess we may as well take a break here," Isaac said to the group with water dripping off his normally spiky hair. "I think we probably need it."

This met with bright smiles and enthusiasm from the partially rejuvenated adepts, worn down after half a day in the desert. Mia smiled as she watched the boys in the water pick a fight with each other. Isaac wanted his revenge on Garet for pulling him in and sent a wave of water at the Mars adept's face. It didn't take long for Garet to send one back at Isaac who managed to duck out of the way. Isaac thought he was safe until Ivan tackled him from behind in a sneak attack, assisting Garet in taking down their leader.

_It's funny how we seem almost like normal people when we get a chance to relax, _Mia thought as the spectacle played out before her. Of course Isaac was fighting a losing battle and because it was one verses two he was getting beat pretty badly. Mia couldn't help laughing when Isaac overdramatized his near defeat at the hands of the other two boys and turned to her for help.

"You may be good Garet and Ivan, but you forgot about my trump card! We're in water and I have a Mercury adept on my side!" Isaac yelled out, looking over Mia for assistance.

Giggling, she replied saying, "Sorry Isaac, you're on your own for this one."

Isaac gave her sad face and then splashed her with water before turning his attention back to the other two. _Ah! Isaac, why you- _Mia thought looking at her dress that now had drops of water all over it, before she gave in and smiled. _Well I guess he wouldn't be Isaac if he didn't enjoy messing with me from time to time..._

Given the intense heat it didn't take long for the water Isaac splashed at Mia to evaporate entirely, leaving behind no trace it had ever been there. Suddenly, Mia felt something grab her leg and she freaked out, thinking one of the boys was about to pull her into the water too, when Isaac suddenly surfaced with a laugh at her reaction and crawled onto the sand next to her, thoroughly beaten up on by Garet and Ivan.

As he lay down next to her and closed his eyes, Mia spoke up. "Don't scare me like that Isaac!" she admonished.

Isaac lazily opened one eye to look at her before laughing. "Well you deserved it for leaving me at the mercy of Garet and Ivan," he replied.

"Hmph!" Mia exclaimed and turned away from the blonde boy, pretending to be annoyed with him, but secretly smiling to herself. _Yes, I probably did deserve that_, Mia admitted to herself, letting out a giggle that Isaac could hear.

Isaac just smiled and stretched out in relaxation, yawning as he did so. "Please don't stay mad at me Mia..." he said, trailing off at the end as if he was falling asleep.

Mia gave the blonde boy laying down next to her a fond smile. "I don't think it would be possible for me to stay mad at you anyway," she said, watching as the water evaporated off of Isaac in front of her eyes.

"Oh?" came Isaac's response as he rolled over to be able to look back at the girl next to him. "Why is that?" he asked.

Mia shrugged and adopted a sweet tone. "Who knows," she said with a shrug. "For some reason I never seem to get the urge to freeze you," she joked, putting on a scary looking smile.

Isaac shivered just thinking about it and mumbled, "Yeah...we could probably pass on that..."

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding..." Mia said, reaching out to ruffle his hair a bit in a lighthearted manner.

"I think I just spend so much time with you that it would be too difficult to be mad and live with you at the same time," Mia added in a more serious tone. She laid back and sighed, looking up at the sky. "I don't think you've actually ever made me mad anyway..." Mia added mostly to herself.

The two stayed that way for a bit before Isaac made another comment. "This desert is really a lot hotter than it needs to be..."

"Yeah...it'd be nice if we could find some cool caves or something to escape the heat for a bit," Mia said.

Isaac turned over to look at her. "Not to say that wouldn't be great too, but the water felt really good Mia. Why didn't you come in and cool off with us?" he asked.

Mia felt a faint blush creep into her cheeks before she answered. "I'm wearing white," she explained to Isaac, hoping he would connect the dots.

He didn't. With a confused look on his face, Isaac said, "So? What does that have to do with it?"

_Oh Mercury, do I have to actually spell it out for him...? _Mia asked herself, blushing scarlet. She was suddenly finding it hard to meet her friend's eyes, but explained anyway. "I-Isaac...when you get white clothes like this wet...they um...they become sort of see-through?" she said, phrasing it almost like a question, asking for Isaac's understanding.

It was Isaac's turn to blush in embarrassment as his eyes went wide in response to her statement. "Oh...right..." he said slowly. "I completely forgot about that and didn't even consider it," Isaac added sheepishly.

The blonde boy looked like he was giving it some thought for a few seconds before saying, "Hmm...it would dry out really quickly..."

_That's not the point Isaac! _Mia felt herself say in her head. _It would still-_

"All right!" Isaac exclaimed, hopping to his feet and interrupting Mia's thoughts. "I suddenly have something to show Ivan and Garet over there," he said pointing away from the pool of water. "We will probably be gone for a few minutes, so feel free to relax a bit," he finished with a wink.

"Isaac, you-" Mia tried to say, but Isaac cut her off.

"Sorry Mia! We'll have to talk later, this thing I need to show them is extremely important," he emphasized with a smile.

Mia gave him an incredulous look as he walked over to where Garet and Ivan were standing and pointed over to some random sand dune before putting his arms around their shoulders and steering them off in that direction. She giggled. _Well I guess that's Isaac for you..._

Deciding to take the opportunity he had given her, Mia slipped into the small oasis and let out a relaxed sigh as the water washed over her. _Ah...it feels so good..._she thought, happy for the reprieve from the brutal heat of the desert.

Raising herself out of the water just a bit, Mia looked down at her clothes to check out what they looked like. _Oh, it's not actually that bad, _she realized, inspecting her dress. It was a little bit translucent, but not fully see-through by any means. She smiled to herself as she went back into the water. _Still, I have to thank Isaac for the opportunity later, _Mia told herself, as her mind went back to the blonde boy.

_Though, if it was just Isaac I don't think I'd mind if..._

_Ah! What am I thinking!? _Mia thought to herself, shaking her head rapidly to try to clear that image from her mind as her cheeks turned a deep red color.

_Oh Mercury...Why am I reacting like this? _The cerulean haired girl questioned herself, still blushing as she splashed some water into her face before crawling back onto land to dry off before the boys returned.

When they did, Ivan and Garet were complaining to Isaac about how there was nothing over there, and the blonde boy said, "I don't know guys. I thought I saw something over there but I guess it was just a mirage or something..." forcing Mia to hold back a laugh.

As they walked up, Isaac looked over to her and gave her a grin of success. Mia felt her heart flutter slightly in response as she gave him a shy smile back.


	6. The Karagol Crossing

**Chapter 6: The Karagol Crossing**

"Monsters on Deck!" Isaac heard one of the crew members up above yell. _The captain certainly wasn't lying when he said the seas had become more dangerous lately..._he mused as he ran up on deck to check out the commotion.

The Karagol Sea had become a dangerous place to sail due to the increasing number of attacks by monsters and the amount ships lost in its vast waters. Due to these recent developments it had become nearly impossible to find anyone willing to provide transportation across it. Luckily for Isaac, Garet, Ivan, and Mia they were able to find a captain who would attempt the crossing from Kalay to Tolibi, drawn in by the potential profits to be made with the upcoming Colosso tournament in Tolbi and the blockage of the Silk Road, forcing attendees to journey by boat. Other than inflated prices the trip did have one caveat: The group of adepts would have to help protect the ship from attack.

This is where Isaac was heading to protect the ship once again as he came out on deck with his sword ready, scanning the monsters that had hopped onto the ship. _3 Jellyfish and 2 Lizards...not too bad, _Isaac thought as he planned his attack. To his right, Ivan was already engaged in combat with one of the lizard men, using his light sword and speed to dodge attacks and quickly strike back at the foe.

As Garet rushed in all of the jellyfish swarmed him, leaving the last lizard man to Isaac. With no monsters to interrupt her, Mia was free to cast spells with impunity. Isaac saw one of the jellyfish freeze out of the corner of his eye before Garet's sword shattered it into tiny pieces and a wall of fire made the remaining two back off slightly.

It was rare to actually fight another foe with a sword, but Isaac was grateful for the practice as he parried the attack of the lizard man and countered with a thrust to the knee. Following up the attack with a quick Quake spell to take advantage of the monster's weakened knee and throw it off balance, Isaac followed through with a finishing blow, decapitating the lizard.

Turning to check how everyone else was doing, Isaac noticed another jellyfish had been finished off and the other lizard man was lying in a smoking heap on the deck, overwhelmed by Ivan's lightning strikes. Mia summoned a dozen shards of sharp ice and sent them flying at the remaining jellyfish, shredding its skin and pinning it to the deck for Garet to execute.

With all the monsters dead, Isaac lowered his sword and went to check on the state of the crew. Unfortunately another crew member had been injured in the scuffle and would have to be replaced by a passenger. Since that job also fell to him, Isaac found another passenger that could help row the boat and they began sailing for Tolbi once again.

Sitting down on the steps next to Mia as he kept on eye on the part of the ship they were supposed to watch, Isaac let out a sigh. "There are sure a lot of monsters in this sea," he explained when Mia looked over inquisitively.

She nodded in response. "It's probably like this for the same reason the Mogall Forest exists and the Lamakan Desert was so unbearably hot."

_The removal of the elemental stars from Sol sanctum really has been drastically changing the world...It makes me wonder what will happen if all the lighthouses actually got lit. It certainly wouldn't be pretty, _Isaac thought grimly. "Unfortunately I think you're right about the cause," he told Mia. "I suppose they are all reminders of the importance of our quest. If we fail..." he trailed off.

Mia looked over at him. "Don't speak like that Isaac. We'll find a way to stop the rest of the lighthouses from being lit," she said.

Isaac slowly shook his head. "It's not only that...Even if we do manage to stop the lighthouse from being lit, Mercury is already lit. What are the consequences for only have a single lighthouse lit?" he asked.

That question seemed to catch Mia off guard a bit and Isaac watched as she worked through the possible implications of only one lit lighthouse. Frowning she turned back to Isaac and said, "Honestly I don't even know where to begin speculating about that." She tapped her staff against the floor a few times, thinking about it for a few more seconds before speaking again. "As someone who was supposed to protect the Mercury Lighthouse it hurts to say this but...I think at this point we just have to accept that it was lit and deal with the consequences of that as they come," Mia said.

_Leave it to Mia to come up with the same reaction to the situation that I did..._Isaac thought with a smile. "It's not like the Mercury Lighthouse was your fault anyway Mia," he told the girl. "If anything, everything rests on the shoulders of Garet and I," Isaac added.

Mia just shook her head. "No, that's not at all true. I should have prevented them from ever gaining entry to the Mercury Lighthouse in the first place. They never would have been able to navigate it without Alex either..." she said.

Isaac laughed despite himself and Mia looked over at him with confusion, wondering what he found so funny. "I guess we're just permanently stuck in this mess together then," he said as an explanation.

"So we're just going to be stuck with each other?" Mia asked Isaac in a sly tone, pointing out his poor word choice.

Isaac rolled his eyes at the cerulean haired adept. "Okay, maybe 'stuck' wasn't the right way to say it," he admitted. "We will be forced to-" Isaac joked as Mia gave him a quick "Hmph!" and turned away, faking irritation and causing Isaac to laugh. Mia tried to not to break the tone she had created but eventually gave in and laughed along with Isaac.

Isaac decided to answer seriously the next time and said, "What I actually meant was that we are both going to be responsible for all the consequences of the Mercury Lighthouse being lit and the issues that may arise due to that."

Mia smiled at him. "I knew what you meant by it the first time," she said. Leaning into Isaac slightly, Mia rested her head up against Isaac's shoulder, surprising the blonde boy. "I'm glad to know you don't think spending time with me is being 'stuck' with me," she said in a sweet voice, still teasing the boy.

"Of course not," Isaac said, still processing the unexpected development. "I actually enjoy spending time with you," he added, watching Mia smile at his words. _We already spend every hour of every day together and I never get tired of having you around..._Isaac added in his head.

Mia let out a content sigh and closed her eyes as she relaxed next to Isaac. Looking down at the girl Isaac's thoughts began to wander. _She looks so peaceful like this, _he noticed with a smile. _It would be nice to be able to spend more time with her while she can just be her and not while we're busy trying to save the world. _Noticing a strand of cerulean hair that had fallen in her face, Isaac reached out and brushed it to the side, causing Mia to open her eyes again and smile at him. _Her eyes are so pretty too..._

"Isaac?" Mia asked in a cute voice, wondering why he was staring at her.

"Ah! Uh...sorry," Isaac said in embarrassment, blushing pink. He turned his head away from her and scratched the tip of his nose in nervousness.

Mia giggled, only making Isaac's embarrassment worse, and she said, "That's all right. I didn't mind...You just sort of looked like you had something to say..." she replied.

_Well there are plenty of things that I could have said, _Isaac knew. "No, nothing in particular..." he replied before being knocked into the side railing of the ship with Mia as something huge collided with the ship. They both instantly changed gears and were on their feet, alert and ready to fight any foe that appeared.

"Whatever that was...it was big..." Mia said, looking around the deck for what caused the impact. For a few moments, nothing happened but then a sailor cried out and all attention was shifted to the front of the deck where a monstrous tentacle lashed out, knocking out the sailor that had yelled.

A moment later, a huge sea creature pulled itself onto the deck with tentacles waving around dangerously, looking for people to attack. "It's a Kraken!" one of the other sailors yelled, running to inform the captain of the situation.

Garet and Ivan joined Isaac and Mia from the other side of the ship, drawing their weapons and watching the monster carefully for any sign of a weakness. Noticing the four adepts nearby, the Kraken roared and lashed out with a tentacle, forcing Ivan to sidestep out of its path. With that, the battle was on.

"Let's go!" Garet yelled out, running in with his sword raised, leading the charge. Another tentacle came swinging in at Garet but a quick Heat Wave knocked it off course and allowed Garet to slash the tentacle coming from the other side. Isaac followed him in and jumped over a tentacle coming in low, aiming to knock him off his feet. Mia sent two blasts of ice at the next two tentacles to swing at the boys and Ivan conjured a storm of lightning to deal damage and distract the Kraken.

Using the opening Ivan had created, Isaac and Garet were both able to land blows from their blades on the giant beast, causing it to roar loudly. In response to its injuries the Kraken let out a sickening black gas that both boys had to scramble to get away from. Neither was 100% successful and the gas hit both of them, Isaac on the leg and Garet on an arm, causing them to yell out in pain. Ivan reacted instantly and blew the rest of the gas harmlessly away with a giant tornado as Isaac and Garet made their retreat. As Isaac was backing off, the numb feeling in his leg caused him to trip, leaving him vulnerable to the Kraken's next attack.

A tentacle came rushing at him in the blink of an eye like a whip, but Mia's fast reaction allowed her to summon a barrier of pure ice to halt the blow before it could touch Isaac. Garet cast a Flare Wall to prevent a follow up attack as Mia healed his wound and removed the numbness form his arm. Ivan cast a series of tornados to try and buy more time as Mia rushed over to heal Isaac's leg as well.

Garet stood farther at range, blocking the swinging tentacles with his sword, preventing them from hitting Mia and Isaac while the blonde boy recovered and stood up. Ivan was relentless in his attack, alternating between summoning fierce winds and harsh lightning storms or plasma attacks to continue to whittle down the Kraken's stamina.

As Isaac recovered he went back on the offensive against the beast using his psynergy and sword to deflect tentacles and damage their foe. Garet didn't see a tentacle coming in from the side at him and as a result got knocked down with a large gash in his leg. It was nothing Mia couldn't handle, but as she was healing she noticed the deadly toxins taking effect. Calling upon her psynergy again Mia purged the poison from Garet and got him back on his feet.

"The tentacles are also poisonous!" Mia called out to make the other two aware to be extra careful against them. The battle raged on as the group fought to overcome the massive Kraken and even with Mia's warning about the tentacles, Ivan and Isaac couldn't dodge forever and had to be purged of the poison as well. The group was slowing down as exhaustion from the extended battle began to take its toll, causing more injuries and forcing Isaac into a backup healing role as Mia tried to mend everyone's injuries.

Isaac started to rely on the power of his Djinn more often for attack and defense due to his waning psynergy reserves. _The end of this has to be coming soon. I know we can't hold out much longer, but that thing seems to be very weakened as well_, Isaac thought. The deck was littered with Kraken blood and severed tentacles, but the creature was still fighting on and still had plenty of tentacles left to attack with.

The 4 adepts continued the bizarre dance as they ducked and weaved, avoiding the Kraken's attacks while countering with attacks of their own, trying to end the battle as quickly as possible. Isaac called upon the power of his Djinn Flint to strike a heavy blow thanks to the opening Garet made for him with his Heat Wave attack.

Another roar from the Kraken and the beast spewed giant bubbles everywhere that would explode on contact, sending the group ducking for cover. Garet was too slow and one of the bubbles exploded next to him, thankfully only doing minor damage, but it served as the distraction the Kraken needed.

In the split second it took for the group to divert attention to Garet and assess his condition, the Kraken sent two tentacles flying at Mia. She called upon her psynergy to create a barrier of ice to deflect the blow...and nothing happened. She was out of psynergy from all the healing of the drawn out battle.

The two tentacles hit their mark dead on and left Mia on the floor with two large gashes on her chest. Isaac's eyes went wide as he made a snap decision to end the fight. As much as it pained him, Isaac diverted his attention away from Mia for a moment and raised his arms. "Judgment!" he screamed out, summoning the power of the heavens. A ball of pure Venus energy originated far above the ship and raced toward it at blinding speed while Isaac did all he could to prevent the blast from destroying the ship.

There was a blinding flash of pure white light and a second later it was over. The Kraken was completely gone. It had been utterly annihilated, but despite Isaac's best efforts the blast had also done significant damage to the ship. As the crew recovered and quickly checked the damage to ensure the ship's safety, Isaac raced to Mia's side, calling upon the psynergy he had left.

The gashes looked pretty bad, but it was the poison that Isaac was more worried about. Thankfully, Mia was still in a semi-conscious state when he reached her and scooped her up in his arms. The ship's captain yelled at Isaac to bring her into the cabin and led him to the medical room he could use for healing.

As Isaac laid her down on the bed in the room, Mia looked up at him in a somewhat dazed state and tried to reach out to him with her hand. Grabbing her hand, Isaac lowered it gently back to the bed and said, "It'll be okay Mia, just hold on." Calling upon his psynergy, Isaac pressed his hands to her wounds and began to remove the toxins from them.

As the toxins were drawn out, Mia became more conscious of her surroundings and seemed to be able to focus a little better when she called out his name. "Ah...Isaac," she said, giving him a smile filled with pain as the feeling began to come back to her wounds. It broke Isaac's heart to know that clearing the toxins would allow her to feel all the pain of the wounds to their full extent because the numbing effect of the poison would be gone, but he knew it was necessary in order to heal her wounds.

As he drew out the last of the poison from her body, Isaac felt his heart skip a beat when Mia slipped into unconsciousness from the pain. Isaac began to heal her wounds with psynergy but as he began mending them he realized that they had done extensive damage and he would have to be very careful to heal all the wounds together properly.

_Oh Venus...Is it really coming to this...? _Isaac asked himself, knowing what had to be done. _Argh! Fine! Her safety is the most important thing right now..._ Isaac told himself, taking a deep breath. "Sorry Mia..." Isaac whispered to the unconscious girl as he removed her torn robe from her upper body and blushed a dark red color, thinking about what he was doing. _Damn it! This should not be happening right now..._Isaac thought, summoning his courage and taking a deep breath.

_This is normal, _he told himself. _If someone gets injured and needs to be healed then this is what has to happen. _Knowing that it had to be done didn't make him feel any better about it. Looking down, Isaac began to examine the injury, eliminating all other thoughts from his mind, especially the ones about explaining to Mia how he had healed her later.

Determining the best place to start, Isaac once again pressed his hands to one of Mia's wounds and called upon his healing psynergy. Slowly, the wound began to heal as he moved from one section of her injuries to another. Despite his best efforts not to think about anything except her injuries, Isaac was still thoroughly embarrassed by the situation and occasionally random thoughts would cross his mind.

_Thank Venus her injuries end here, _he thought as he healed the lower sections of the injury on Mia's stomach, blushing once again in embarrassment. At least he knew that the cerulean haired girl was going to be okay judging from the regular breathing and heartbeat he could feel during the healing process.

The whole job took him a few minutes to complete and when he was satisfied that she was injury free, Isaac slid her robe back on her, frowning at the large torn section in the middle that had been slashed open by the tentacles. _She can't exactly wander around like that, _Isaac knew and after double checking her condition, he went to go retrieve one of Mia's spare robes from her bag outside.

When he came back to the room a minute later, spare robe in hand, Mia was sitting up on the bed checking where her injuries were a few minutes before. A sense of relief filled Isaac and he couldn't help but to smile as he said, "Mia! You're awake again!" He walked over to the bed and placed Mia's new robe on it, turning to her and asking, "How are you feeling right now?"

Mia gave him a smile in return. "Much better thanks to you," she replied. "I barely feel the injury anymore. You did a really good job on it," Mia added.

Isaac smiled back at her. "Thank Venus, Thank Mercury, Thank whomever... I'm just glad you're okay," he said. "It looked pretty bad so you gave me quite a scare."

Mia looked over at the spare robe Isaac had brought for her and then at the large gashes in the robe she was currently wearing and frowned, knowing that the robe she had on was probably beyond repair. The cerulean haired girl let out a sigh and turned back to Isaac with a smile, but she had a thoughtful and curious expression on her face.

"I know the wound was pretty bad and that you were able to heal it all..." she started to say before trailing off. "How did you...How did you actually heal it?" Mia asked in a curious voice.

Isaac blushed even though he knew the question was coming sooner or later. Scratching his head with nervousness he said, "Ah well...um..."

Mia began to blush as well as she took a guess where his answer was going next, but she waited quietly for Isaac to finish talking. "Well I had to...you know...look at the damage so I knew what to heal..." Isaac said, trying to explain what had occurred. Mia's face turned beat red as her suspicions were confirmed and she looked away from Isaac, unable to hold his gaze in her embarrassment. One of her hands subconsciously ended up clutching the torn pieces of her robe and holding them together as if it could change what had already happened.

"I'm sorry Mia!" Isaac said, his face still red from embarrassment about the situation. "I didn't mean for that to happen or anything. It just sort of did because it had to in order for me to heal you properly and all..." he added to his answer, speaking very quickly.

Mia looked back at the blonde boy with a timid gaze, her face still very pink. "It..It's okay..." she finally said in a low voice. "I understand that you had to...it's just...embarrassing is all..." Mia added with a smile.

Mia seemed to be very nervous and was acting extremely shy, clenching her hand holding the gash in her robe even tighter.

"I'm glad it was you though...I mean...If anyone was going to...you know..." she trailed off, flushing again and avoiding Isaac's eyes, unable to finish the thought. "I feel better knowing it was you who healed me," Mia managed to get out with a smile at the Venus adept.

Isaac really wasn't sure what to make of that. _Out of anyone she would prefer me to… _He looked back over at the girl sitting on the bed and said, "Well, I'm glad you trust me at least."

Just then, Garet and Ivan opened the door to the room and walked in, causing both Isaac and Mia to jump slightly. "Good news!" Garet said as he stepped into the room. "We checked the ship and it turns out we aren't going to sink or anything due to that summon you used," he added, slapping Isaac on the back. "That was some powerful stuff back there. There wasn't even a piece of the Kraken left after that,"

"Are you all right now Mia?" Ivan asked, walking over to where Mia was still sitting on the bed.

The cerulean haired girl smiled and said, "Yes, Isaac was able to heal the wound perfectly."

"Good to hear," Ivan replied with a smile in return. "I knew Isaac would be up to the task," he said.

Mia looked over at Isaac and blushed slightly when she saw he was already looking at her so she diverted her attention to Garet and Ivan.

"Well I'm fine now, but I do need to change," Mia said, indicating the spare robes on the bed. "So all you boys need to get out of here," she added, looking at each of them in turn.

Garet just laughed. "Yes ma'am," he said formally, bowing before he had to dodge the random book Mia found to throw at him. He walked out the door with a wave of his hand and Ivan turned to follow him out. Isaac picked up the book and placed it back where it was supposed to go, before turning and following Ivan through the door.

As he was about to step outside, Isaac looked back once more at Mia who mouthed the words 'Thank You,' and gave him a sweet smile.


	7. Aftermath of Colosso

**Chapter 7: Aftermath of Colosso**

Isaac competing in the Colosso tournament at the request of Babi, the ruler of Tobli, was an unexpected turn of events. After saving his life in the caves behind Tolbi and learning about the psynergy powers of Isaac and the group, Babi specifically requested Isaac be entered into the tournament so he could see more of their abilities in action.

The tournament consisted of multiple rounds where competitors would face off against each other to solve puzzles and endure tests of strength to reach the center ring where they would ultimately battle each other to see who would move on to the next round. Psynergy definitely gave Isaac an advantage over the other competitors, but he did not have to undergo the intense training for the event that his opponents did and was therefore weaker physically. Fortunately Isaac had overcome that obstacle and already passed through two of the knockout rounds with only the final match left to go.

Mia watched from the stands with Garet and Ivan as Isaac was lead up to the obstacle course by an attendant, and everything was set up for the last round. The blonde boy looked determined to make it through and win the last round, but Mia could also detect a hint of weariness in how he was standing there.

Suddenly a whistle sounded and the final two competitors made their way onto the course. Isaac ran up the passageway, rolling a log out of his way and then pushing another one off a ledge in order to create a bridge to the next section. Mia continued to watch as Isaac hopped from platform to platform across a pit of water, being careful not to slip and fall in so he would not have to do it over again.

The next part had Isaac scaling a wall to cross over a gap below and he dropped back down to the base level, landing with grace on the platform. He ran up to the combat ring ahead, his yellow scarf trailing behind him. Isaac had reached the ring a few seconds ahead of his opponent and claimed the better weapon for the fight as a result, however Mia knew the fight wasn't only going to be about the weapon the competitors were using.

Looking over at Isaac's enemy, Mia noticed he seemed to be made of pure muscle and had no doubt been training for this moment for a long time. Unconsciously she bit her lip, nervous because she was not out there with him to back him up. _I know Isaac can handle himself, _Mia knew. _I just don't like the fact I can't be there to help out. All this time we've fought together and now it just feels weird to be out here, watching from the sidelines._

"Don't worry, Isaac will be fine," Ivan reassured her, picking up on her body language.

"I know...I know..." Mia said in response to the blonde boy. "It's just odd not fighting along with him..." she added. Frowning she looked at Ivan. "Am I really that easy to read?" she asked.

Ivan laughed. "Mia, it's totally obvious. I'd have to be completely oblivious to miss your nervousness based on how you've been acting." He pointed down at her fingers, "You know you were biting your nails during the last match right?" he asked with a sly grin.

Mia inspected her nails and blushed red as she saw the truth. _Wow...I really was biting them and didn't even realize it..._ Ivan just laughed as he saw the recognition of that fact on Mia's face and left her to her thoughts because the match had finally begun.

Isaac started things off with a feint to the left and then a slash back to the right that was quickly parried by his opponent, Navampa. Mia watched as the larger man counterattack with a quick strike at the leg that Isaac jumped back to avoid. So far in all the matches Isaac had refrained from using his psynergy, but judging by the physical ability of Navampa, Mia was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to win this fight without it.

Navampa was strong, but Isaac was quick. While it was easy for Navampa to overpower Isaac with his strength, he could only do so if Isaac allowed himself to be caught. The Venus adept darted around the larger foe, striking when he could before dodging the inevitable counterattack and backing away again. Neither opponent could make any real headway against the other and they just began to slowly wear each other down as the fight dragged on.

Mia watched with bated breath as the pair fought back and forth until finally Isaac was forced into an unfavorable position. Blocking on swing of Navampa's blade, he left himself open to a follow through attack and Navampa pressed the advantage. Mia held her breath, not wanting to see Isaac hurt even though the weapons they were using would not seriously maim or kill. Somehow Isaac managed to bring his sword around in time to block, but it cost him the blade and there was a sharp ring of metal on metal as Navampa knocked the sword from his grip.

The audience watched in slow motion as the blade hit the ground near Navampa's foot and the warrior kicked it off the stage where Isaac could not get it. "It's over," the larger warrior declared, pointing his sword at Isaac and asking for the blonde boy to admit surrender.

Isaac was breathing heavily but just smiled and said, "Not just yet..."

Navampa shrugged and walked toward Isaac with his sword ready, being careful of any tricks Isaac might have up his sleeve. Of course there was no way the muscular man could know about Isaac's psynergy.

Navampa jumped forward as Isaac yelled out, "Ragnarok!"

Mid leap, Navampa was slammed to the ground by a huge blade of pure psynergy falling from the sky onto him at Isaac's command. The audience went completely silent as they witness the spectacle, not quite sure just what it was they had seen happen. Navampa did not get back up, but just laid there until he blacked out.

That is when Babi stood up to declare Isaac the winner, but as he spoke, Mia saw the Venus adept sway a bit and then collapse to the ground. Her eyes went wide for a second and then suddenly she was rushing out toward the Venus adept, and yelled his name. Garet and Ivan followed her over to make sure Isaac was all right while the stadium attendees checked up on Navampa.

Summoning her healing psynergy, Mia poured it into Isaac, trying to make sure he was okay. Despite her efforts, Isaac's eyes remained closed and Mia started to get concerned until she heard a soft noise and paused what she was doing. She heard is again a few seconds later and stared at Isaac incredulously.

_Was that a snore? Is he...sleeping...? _Mia asked herself as she listened to Isaac and heard more snoring from the boy. _Falling asleep just like that?! I swear to Mercury if he is just asleep he's going to get it for making me worry by collapsing like that, _Mia thought, bewildered by the idea that Isaac had only just fallen asleep out of exhaustion.

Garet was the first to point it out. "He's apparently just asleep," Garet told the arena attendants who came over to check up on Isaac.

Slight surprise registered on their faces but they took it in stride and said, "Very well, it was a trying battle and if he must recover then we can have him meet with Babi after he wakes up."

"Is that okay?" Ivan asked the two attendants, who nodded in response.

"Babi has prepared rooms for each of you in the palace for the duration of your stay in our town anyway. We can escort you to them and bring Isaac to his room as well," one of them said.

Garet and Ivan looked over at where Mia was still sitting next to Isaac and nodded at each other. "We should do that," Garet told the attendants. "Lead on."

The adepts followed the attendants out of the stadium and into the palace with Garet carrying Isaac since the blonde boy was still asleep. Reaching the rooms, the attendants pointed out their 4 rooms and opened the door to Isaac's so Garet could lay him down. Once the fire adept placed Isaac on the bed, the two attendants turned to leave and said, "Remember to come see Babi after Isaac wakes up. He has something he wants to speak with all of you about."

They walked out the door, closing it behind them as they left. Mia was still having a hard time taking her eyes off Isaac, but when Garet asked if the rest of them wanted to go get some food before bed, she turned to face him. Ivan readily accepted and the two boys turned to face Mia asking her the same question with just a glance.

Mia shook her head and said, "I'd like to stay here for now and make sure Isaac is all right."

Ivan replied saying, "We've already checked and he's just sleeping Mia. He's going to be fine. Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"Someone should be here when he wakes up to let him know what happened," the cerulean haired girl reasoned.

Garet nodded. "Very well. Take care of him for us then, but make sure you get some sleep if he doesn't wake up soon all right?" he said.

Mia nodded. "I will," she replied.

Garet and Ivan filed out the door to go find something to eat and Mia turned her attention back to Isaac, sitting on the bed next to him. The Colosso finals were held at night so it was already quite late, but she was determined to stay up until Isaac woke up as well.

Looking over at the blonde boy, Mia noticed he was sleeping peacefully and that she really didn't need to be worried about him. _I guess he was just tired after all..._ Mia thought as she smiled down at the handsome Venus adept. She placed a hand on his head to take his temperature and double check that he didn't have a fever or anything.

Satisfied that he was indeed in perfect health, she removed her hand and smiled again. "Oh good...you're okay..." she whispered to the sleeping blonde boy. _I get so scared every time you might be injured and I don't know what it is...I mean, I worry whenever anyone on the team gets hurt but it feels different when I see it happen to you. _Mia sighed, not sure what to make of her own feelings. _I feel like I'm the one getting hurt as well whenever I see you injured._

_I wish I could understand why this happens with you, _Mia thought, looking down at Isaac again with a wistful expression. She sighed again and gave up on that line of thinking. _Well whatever. I'll figure it out one of these days…_Mia told herself, yawning as she began to realize how tired she actually was.

Mia continued to sit there next to Isaac for a few minutes as she denied her need to rest, halfway nodding off before jerking herself back awake to continue watching over the blonde boy. _Ah…I know I can stay awake long enough to…make sure you're okay…_ Mia continued to tell herself as she yawned again.

Her drooping eyelids told a different story however and though she was putting forth her best effort not to fall asleep, Mia closed her eyes and kept them closed for a bit as if it would help stave off her exhaustion. She continued to rotate between resting her eyes and keeping alert but it did not work well enough to prevent her from the need to sleep.

Mia was only really half aware that she was now lying down on the bed next to Isaac and that her head was resting against his shoulder as she was being lured off to sleep by the low sound of his steady and methodical breathing.

_Knowing he's there…is…comforting…_Mia's thoughts told her as she lay there slipping off into the land of dreams herself. As her eyes closed, one last stray thought went through her head. _I want to stay like this for a little while…_

...

As Mia slowly opened her eyes, something felt off to her. Blinking a few times as her eyes adjusted to the light, she tried to remember where she was. A few moments passed before everything clicked in her head and she suddenly felt wide awake. _Isaac! I was waiting for him to wake up after Colosso, _she remembered. _I must have left and gone to sleep at some point, _Mia deduced, sitting up and looking around the room until her eyes landed on Isaac.

"Good morning," he told her with an amused smile. Isaac was sitting back in a chair near the bed and Mia felt her face turn pink as she realized what had actually happened.

_Oh no...did I fall asleep here while watching over him? Did we...sleep in the same bed...? _She asked herself feeling her face redden at the thought.

Isaac answered that question for her by saying, "You must have been tired to have dozed off like that."

Mia looked away, suddenly acting shy. "I'm sorry..." she said. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay...and I wanted to let you know where we were when you woke up since you didn't know..." Mia added trying to explain her presence.

"It's quite all right Mia, though I will admit I was a little confused when I woke up and saw you asleep next to me," Isaac said, avoiding eye contact as his face gained some color from the embarrassment of that situation. "Ah...but I knew that everything was all right because you were here," Isaac told her with a smile, ending the awkward pause after his last statement.

Mia sat there and tentatively looked back at Isaac, determined to hold his gaze as she spoke. "I was supposed to be the one watching over you...yet you ended up waking up before me..." she started to say. "I...I appreciate it. I honestly think it would have been weird to wake up without you here..." she told him.

Isaac looked surprised, but happy to hear Mia say that. "You're right. It felt more normal to me to see you when I woke up than it would have if I didn't," Isaac said. He looked away and scratched his head a bit as he continued. "Ah...well...though you were a bit closer than usual..." he pointed out, causing both adepts to blush at the fact.

"Were you worried about me all night?" Isaac asked with genuine curiosity. Mia nodded in response, not trusting herself to speak. Isaac smiled at her. "That's sweet of you Mia. Thanks for looking out for me," he said.

_Sweet? _Mia questioned herself. "I-uh...I just wanted to be sure you were actually okay..." Mia said timidly.

Trying to recover quickly and end the awkwardness, Isaac said, "You looked so peaceful and content while asleep so I couldn't find it in me to disturb that and wake you up."

This seemed to help a bit and Mia turned to the side of the bed and stood up, straightening out the robes she had fallen asleep in, frowning at the wrinkles in them. "I just wish I didn't fall asleep in my robes though," the cerulean hair girl said wistfully.

Isaac stood up and took a few steps to approach Mia. "It's not just your robes right now you know. Your hair could also use some fixing up," he said, reaching up to straighten it out a bit.

Mia wasn't expecting Isaac to do something like that and could feel her heart beat faster in her chest as he ran his hand through her hair, trying to straighten it out. The close proximity made Mia blush, but she felt no desire to pull away at all. Instead, the sensation of Isaac's warm breath on her cheek made her want to get closer.

A sudden knock at the door broke the trance Mia was in. _Oh Mercury...what was I just thinking of..._ Mia shook her head to clear her thoughts with the hint of a blush still on her face as Isaac went to answer the door.

When he opened it, Garet and Ivan were outside and looked into the room. "Oh hey guys," Isaac said in greeting when he saw who it was.

"Nice to see you awake again," Ivan said as Garet looked past Isaac and over at Mia.

"We were coming to check up on you and Mia," Garet explained. "We checked Mia's room, but nobody answered and her room hasn't been touched last night so we assumed she might be here..." he added, looking her up and down, taking in the wrinkled robes and partially fixed up hair.

The red haired adept almost seemed to be surprised, but then he smirked. "Well it seems we were right and it looks like you are both okay so we won't interrupt you anymore," he said, grabbing Ivan and heading out the door. "When you two are done you can find us eating breakfast," Garet said over his shoulder as he shut the door behind him.

Mia's face turned beat red as she realized what Garet was insinuating with his statements and the meaning behind his smirk after seeing her appearance. _He doesn't think that Isaac and I actually..._

She shook her head and looked over at Isaac before blushing profusely again. _No...that wouldn't happen... _Mia told herself, to try and rid herself of the thoughts Garet put in her head.

Fortunately for her, Isaac seemed to have not picked up on what Garet was implying, which was good because otherwise Mia felt she might die of embarrassment. Looking over at the blonde boy just brought more of those thoughts to her head so she suddenly grabbed her stuff and hurried for the door, claiming she needed to go change before joining Garet and Ivan for breakfast as an excuse to get out of there.

Closing the door to Isaac's room behind her, the cerulean haired girl let out a long sigh and stepped across the hall to her own room.

_I definitely like Isaac. Being smart, funny, kind, and handsome never hurts...but we aren't like that! _Mia told herself, trying to purge the images Garet had given her from her mind.

Entering her room, Mia closed the door and threw herself down on the bed, grabbing one of the pillows and holding it tightly in frustration. _Why did Garet have to go and do that? _She asked herself. _Now I can't get the thought of myself and Isaac out of my head..._she thought, resigning herself to being late for breakfast, unable to face any of the other adepts in her present state.

Mia lay there and sighed, just hoping it wouldn't be long until her thoughts and emotions were back to normal.


	8. A Night in the Rain

**A Night in the Rain**

The rain had come so suddenly and unexpectedly that it caught Isaac, Garet, Ivan, and Mia completely unaware and unprepared. The four adepts were soaked and stuck out on the road between Tolbi and Suhalla. There were a few trees littered next to the road that offered some mild protection from the downpour, but could not prevent the group from getting drenched.

It didn't help that it was also quite cold and the group wasn't really near a town to find shelter. Standing under the trees, the group was trying to decide if it would be better to press on or just set up camp and try to outlast the sudden storm.

They all looked pretty weary of traveling in this weather and there was serious doubt that they would even make it to Suhalla before needing to stop. That being the case, they al began to set up their tents as quickly as possible so they could wait it out overnight and continue traveling the next day.

Choosing to pass on a watch rotation for the night due to both the weather and lack of monsters in the area, everyone ducked into their own tent as soon as they were up. As Isaac entered his tent, he looked over at Mia and gave her an exhausted sigh of relief that they were finally out of the rain.

The cerulean haired girl gave him a tired smile in response as she looked through all her clothes, trying to find something in her pack that wasn't completely soaked through. "You should find something to change into," Mia told him. "We can't keep wearing these clothes or we'll catch a cold," she explained.

Isaac nodded and started looking through his pack for a change of clothes to wear, but everything seemed to be wet. _There must be something in here..._Isaac thought in frustration. It took him a minute or so of digging before he finally gave up and concluded that there was nothing to change into.

He looked over at Mia to see if she had any success and realized she had come to the same conclusion. The cerulean haired girl saw him looking in her direction and turned slightly pink. "Well...we still can't wear these clothes soaked like this..." Mia stated, embarrassed at the situation.

Realizing what she meant to do, Isaac also felt a blush creep onto his face and turned automatically to step out of the tent to give Mia her privacy while she changed and got into her bedroll. He was stopped by her hand grabbing his arm. _What is she...? _Isaac thought as he turned just enough to see Mia looking at him timidly.

"I um..." she tried to say. "Don't go back out there...you'll catch a cold," Mia explained. "Just...just look that way," she added nervously, nodding in the direction opposite her with the faint blush still on her cheeks.

_Oh Venus..._Isaac thought to himself as he complied with her request and quickly turned away. "You should get out of your soaked clothes too," Mia suggested as Isaac heard the rustle of fabric from where she was sitting.

_I suppose I need to do the same thing too..._Isaac thought as he removed his shirt to reveal his well toned body from all the adventuring. A shiver passed through him from the cold as he set the shirt aside and took off his pants as well, leaving him sitting in the tent with just his boxers.

_What's necessary is necessary I suppose... _Isaac thought as he continued to stare at the wall of the tent, trying to not think about Mia. "It's okay now," he heard the girl in question say shyly. Isaac turned around apprehensively and saw Mia sitting there, pink in the face without her robe.

_Damn it Mia...I knew you were cute, but this is a little much..._Isaac thought, turning pink as he looked over at her. _At least she still has her undergarments, but this is really forcing me to see her as a girl and not just as my friend, a traveling companion, or a healer..._

"Isaac?" Mia said meekly, interrupting his thoughts as she blushed a deep scarlet.

Realizing he had been staring at her for a few seconds without saying anything, Isaac turned beet red and quickly turned away again saying, "Sorry! I didn't mean to stare...I just wasn't expecting..."

He stopped talking as he felt a hand come to rest gently on his shoulder.

"Well...it's not like this is something you haven't seen before..." a soft voice said behind him, reminding him of the battle against the Kraken on the way to Tolbi.

"That was totally different and it wasn't anything like this," Isaac said without missing a beat. He turned around to face Mia and looked into her beautiful sea colored eyes. "That was also a medical necessity..." he added.

Mia looked back at him, barely a foot away from the blonde boy and Isaac could feel his heartbeat increase slightly. "I mean...this is...this is kind of a medical necessity too isn't it?" Mia used as an excuse.

They both knew the two situations weren't even close to the same, but the rationalization worked in their minds. _That's right..._Isaac thought. _This is all just so we don't get sick or freeze from the weather. It's just Mia after all...she's my friend and there's nothing to be embarrassed about here, _he told himself.

A sharp breeze wafted through the flap of the tent and Mia shivered as the cold air passed by them, drawing Isaac's attention. Taking his hand, he brought it up to Mia's arm. Isaac felt tiny little goose bumps from the cold on her otherwise flawlessly smooth skin and realized just how cold it was without clothes on.

Without really thinking about it, Isaac pulled Mia closer to him and felt how cold she was as the rest of her body came into contact with his. She didn't expect that to happen and her eyes went wide in shock as he pulled her into an embrace but didn't resist and let out a smile when Isaac commented saying, "You're freezing," in a concerned voice.

Mia's skin was certainly cold to the touch, but for Isaac it held a strange warmth; something he couldn't describe, yet it felt pleasant and it felt like it belonged. Putting that feeling aside, he held Mia and let his own body heat warm her up slightly.

"You're cold too you know," Mia told him as she relaxed in his embrace. She sighed contently and snuggled up to Isaac, her cerulean hair draped against his chest. "Your heartbeat is soothing," Mia told him as she closed her eyes and let herself listen to it for a few moments.

Isaac didn't say anything, lost in his own trance just trying to enjoy this rare moment between himself and Mia where they could just be themselves. _I never really noticed before just how close we've gotten since we met. It doesn't feel like anything actually changed, but just the fact that we are in this situation right now is proof of how fast our friendship grew._

_I also didn't ever pay attention to how beautiful she is either,_ Isaac realized as he looked at the girl in his arms. _Being around her so much just made me used to it I suppose. _He brought his hand to her hair and ran it through her cerulean locks, straightening them out as he went.

Mia looked back up at him as he did so and caught his eyes with a smile. Isaac felt another cold wind pierce the tent and shivered involuntarily, stopping his hand motions.

Mia sat there for a few more seconds after feeling Isaac shiver before reluctantly pulling away from the blonde boy. She reached out and grabbed a blanket from her bedroll and came back to Isaac, clutching it with her hands.

"Hey Isaac..." she said, reverting to her shy voice once again. She took the blanket and draped it over herself and the blonde boy. "Could you...can you just hold me tonight?" she asked with a blush on her face.

At first Isaac just looked at her, baffled by her question. "I mean...I uh...sure?" came his response as Mia once again cuddled up to Isaac and they laid down together on Isaac's bedroll under the blanket.

_How did it ever end up like this? _Isaac asked himself. _I mean, this is weird no matter how you look at it...Two friends, half naked, sleeping together in a tent in the middle of the rainstorm. _He almost let out a chuckle at the though._ It doesn't get any odder than this...not that I mind..._

Isaac draped an arm over Mia's body and the cerulean hair girl giggled. "I know you think this is really weird too..." she said over her shoulder to the blonde boy behind her. "...But I feel really safe like this," she finished with a smile.

"You're right...I do think it's odd...but it's also oddly comforting," Isaac told her. "For some reason, this just feels right..." he added, squeezing Mia gently in his arms.

She yawned and said, "Well you're very cozy and it's making me want to just drift off to sleep."

Isaac smiled and felt Mia shift slightly as she found the most comfortable way to fall asleep. Isaac took a last look around their tent and took note of their clothes on the floor as well as Mia's missing blanket from her bedroll. _If anyone saw us right now they could totally assume the wrong thing..._he mused, the thought bringing color to his cheeks.

_Woah! Woah...where did that come from...? _He asked himself, shaking off the ideas in his mind and following Mia's example by closing his eyes to try to sleep.


	9. Amid Desert Caves

**Chapter 9: Amid Desert Caves**

The Suhalla Desert turned out to be the complete opposite of the Lamakan Desert. Instead of intense heat, the adepts encountered high speed winds and tornados that kicked up sand and dirt, reducing visibility. The only benefit to the winds is that they also cooled off the desert immensely and the heat was actually quite mild.

Mia was grateful for her heavy robe that blocked a large portion of the sand and dust being whipped around as the group made their way along one of the rocky walls they were using for navigation. It would be easy to get lost wandering aimlessly amid the swirling sands in the middle of the desert so they had been sticking to the edges and generally heading in the correct direction.

So far the main monsters they encountered had been aptly dubbed "Tornado Lizards," and they seemed to love the narrow passageways where the winds were strongest. Though they were stronger than the average enemy they did not pose any significant threat to the adepts who methodically defeated them in every encounter.

_Compared to the Lamakan Desert, Suhalla is a breeze, _Mia thought, squinting ahead to see where they were heading. _I can deal with the wind and low visibility. It is so much better than trying to deal with oppressive heat the entire way, _she smiled. A few feet ahead of her, Isaac was walking next to the stone wall, running his hand across the smooth stone while his yellow scarf danced in the fast moving winds.

Garet and Ivan were following along after her and Mia took a glance back to reassure herself they were still there. When Garet saw her turn around, he gave her a smile and thumbs up to indicate they were fine. As she turned back to the front she saw Isaac indicate a cave up ahead and duck inside.

Following the blonde boy in, Mia felt the wind die down considerably until only a cool, light breeze remained. The cave was fairly large and open and looked like it had been carved out of the rock by the wind over many years. "It's so much easier to breathe in here," Isaac said, loosening his scarf from his face as Garet and Ivan followed them into the cave.

"Yeah, it's a bit tiresome when you can't breathe properly, but I'll take this any day over burning my feet in the Lamakan Desert again," Ivan pointed out. He received a quick nod of agreement from the other three that indicated they were all thinking the exact same way.

"In that case should we take a short break here and catch our breath?" Isaac asked the group. Receiving an agreement from each party member again, they lowered their packs to the ground and leaned up against the smooth stone wall of the cave. They could hear the howling of the wind outside and the echoes it created deeper in the cave system.

Isaac handed Mia some water that she accepted with a smile before he moved on to Ivan and Garet. She watched as the blonde boy came back over and sat down next to her again before saying, "Thanks."

"Of course," Isaac replied with a smile at the cerulean haired girl as he took a sip of his own water and leaned back against the stone. Mia continued to watch Isaac even after Garet struck up a conversation about his desire to compete in Colosso next year. Just as Garet was unable to forget the idea of competing in the competition next year, Mia was having trouble taking her mind off of a certain blonde haired adept sitting next to her ever since a particular night out in the rain between Tolbi and Suhalla.

Mia blushed just thinking about it. _That was such a weird night...The circumstances were strange, but it didn't really feel that way. I mean sure...it was awkward and all...I mean our clothes were..._ Mia felt her blush deepen and didn't continue the thought. _A-Anyway...I thought it was comfortable..._she thought, looking down and fiddling with her thumbs a bit in embarrassment.

Sneaking a peak back at Isaac with a pink tinge still on her face, Mia recalled the warmth she felt from him that night and how everything just fell into place. One think did irk her though. _It was like a perfect night despite the rain and the cold and everything...but why does it feel there's still one thing that was missing...?_

Mia watched the boy next to her again as he was speaking to Garet and Ivan and was drawn to the movement of his lips as he spoke. Captivated for no longer than a second or two, an unconscious thought rose to answer her previous question.

_A kiss...? _The cerulean haired girl thought, raising a single finger to touch her own lips.

Breaking out of her temporary captivation, Mia felt the thought linger in her mind and turned beet red as she realized where her thoughts had led. _Ahh...don't be ridiculous! _She berated herself. _Isaac is my friend. Friends don't do that sort of thing..._Mia knew. _I mean sure...I find him handsome...attractive even...but that...? That's too much for just friends..._

Mia fidgeted with her robe slightly as the other half of her thoughts kicked in. _But friends wouldn't have done what you did that one night..._her mind pointed out to her, bringing back images of Isaac holding her and the feeling of being enveloped by his arms. Mia blushed darker if it was even possible anymore at this point.

_But we are friends right? This sort of thing couldn't ever happen between friends..._Mia mused as she mulled over her thoughts. _But if that's true and the fact I want to...kiss him...is also true...then does that mean I...?_

The cerulean haired girl shook her head. _No, no, that can't be possible. We're just really close friends is all, _she told herself. _There's no way that we could be anything more than that...I mean...we didn't meet all THAT long ago..._

_Plus, there's no way that Isaac would be interested in me anyway...After all, he already has Jenna right? _Mia thought. For some reason that thought struck a chord in her and gave her a sense of anxiety that was hard to place. _Isaac's already known her for so much longer so even if my feelings for him-_

She was cut off by a hand being waved in front of her face and the words, "Hello? Mia?" from a familiar voice. Looking up, she caught the brilliant blue eyes of Isaac with her gaze and felt herself flush once again.

"You okay Mia?" he was asking her, concern on his face. "You seem to be zoning out a bit lately," he explained with a calm smile.

"I'm- I'm sorry..." Mia stuttered. "Did I miss something?" she asked the blonde boy.

"Sort of," Isaac explained with a smile. "Somehow we started talking about plans after this journey finally ends and what we wanted to do then and Garet asked what you were thinking about doing."

_After this journey ends...? _"Ah...I've never really thought about it before..." Mia said truthfully. _That's such an odd question to ask since it feels like this adventure will never really be over. I mean, I supposed I'd go back to Imil right...?_

"Well...I don't really know, but I guess I would go back home..." Mia stated, unsure of her own words. "I think I would really miss you guys if I just did that though..." she added slowly.

Isaac smiled. "Well you could always do what Ivan said and come visit Vale for a while with us," he offered as a suggestion.

Mia looked over at him. _Visit Vale...I suppose I could do that..._Mia smiled. "Yes, maybe I will do that too," she answered. "I think I'd like to at least see your hometown at some point."

Isaac looked pleased with her answer and gave her another smile saying, "Well we would be happy to have you." Looking past Mia, Isaac glanced outside the cave and could barely make out the sun among the heavy winds and sandstorms.

Frowning slightly, he said, "I think we'd better keep moving on so we can be sure to get out of here by nightfall." This prompted the other 3 adepts to look outside quickly to verify the position of the sun in the sky and agree with his assessment.

Garet shrugged and took an exaggerated breath before giving the group a thumbs up and stepping outside into the sandy wind. Ivan followed after with Isaac and Mia right behind. As soon as she stepped outside Mia could feel herself thrown back into a world of chaos with the sand and the wind blowing her robe and hair in every direction.

If possible it seemed to be worse this time around and Mia could barely make out the silhouettes of Garet and Ivan up ahead. _It's slow progress but at least we're getting somewhere, _Mia thought as they continued to make their way along the rocky desert walls.

Suddenly a particularly strong gust blew up and her vision blurred, causing her to lose sight of her allies temporarily. Knowing it would be useless to try and call out to them in the wind, she pressed forward a little faster and after a few seconds, almost ran into Isaac in front of her.

She felt a hand reach out and grab hers through the sand, and Isaac began to pull her forward along with him for almost half a minute until he pulled her into one of the nearby caves dotting the landscape. As the two adepts tried to catch their breath out of the middle of the sandstorm, Mia noticed two things.

The first was Ivan and Garet were missing and the second was that despite being inside the relative safety of the cave, Isaac was still holding onto her hand. The first was problematic, but the second one she didn't mind in the slightest.

"Damn it..." she heard Isaac say after a few breaths. "We lost the other two..." It was a fact Mia had already noticed as well and she was a bit concerned about being split up in the desert.

"This isn't good," Mia agreed. "I hope they found some shelter from that storm. That gust came out of nowhere really quickly and I was barely even able to find you again."

Isaac nodded with a grim look. "I was really hoping they would end up finding this same shelter as well," he explained. "Should we wait it out here or try to find them right now...?" Isaac wondered as he tried to pace across the cave entrance, but was stopped by Mia's hand when he didn't realize he was still holding it.

Turning red he dropped it from his grasp and said, "Ah...sorry about that..."

"It's fine," Mia reassured the blonde boy with a smile. "I was just glad you stuck with me so we didn't get separated as well," she told him.

"Well you were the only one I could still see so I had to make sure we weren't wandering around alone out there at least," he said with a defeated sigh.

Mia looked back outside at the swirling winds again. "Well to answer your question...we should probably give it a few minutes to die down a bit first and then go look for them. It won't help if we're trying to look for them and can't see anyway," she said.

After hearing that, Isaac sat down against the wall of the cave just as they did in the previous one. "Well, you're always the voice of reason," he said, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back against the wall. "It really wouldn't help if we got ourselves lost trying to find them just as you said."

Mia shrugged and walked over to where Isaac was, sitting down next to him with her staff resting between her legs. Twirling it a bit she asked Isaac, "What did you mean by 'the voice of reason?'"

Isaac shifted his head slightly so he could glance over at her. "Well...you just always seem to keep a level head in every situation and come up with the right answer for every problem," he explained.

Mia laughed. "That sounds more like you I think," she replied.

Isaac shrugged. "Hey, I'm just saying it how I see it," he said, holding his hands out defensively to absolve himself of any blame.

Mia giggled at his reaction. "I'm not accusing you of anything," she said with a smile. "No need to be doing this," she explained, doing a rather poor imitation of Isaac trying to deny blame.

Isaac couldn't contain himself and burst out laughing at the imitation attempt and Mia could help but to follow suit.

"Oh come on...it wasn't THAT bad was it?" the cerulean haired girl asked him, still laughing.

"It actually was..." Isaac added, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye as he laughed some more.

_Oh! He really just pretended to be laughing so hard he teared up?! _Mia noticed as she tried to give him an angry and disproving look but once again failed and burst out laughing herself. This just incited Isaac to continue laughing uncontrollably and Mia reached out to playfully hit his shoulder with her hand to make him stop, while Isaac only half raised his hand to ward off the soft blows, letting most of them just hit him.

Mia smiled and gave in to the fact Isaac was just going to find the whole thing as humorous as she did, but tried one last trick and caught Isaac by surprised when she pushed the boy to the ground while giggling along with him. Caught off guard, the still laughing Isaac lost balance while sitting and fell to the ground, where he lay looking up at Mia who was hovering over him with a grin of success on her face.

"You can't just bring me down and not expect retaliation," Isaac declared, swiftly reaching up and pulling Mia down with him, still laughing as he did so. Not expecting Isaac's arms suddenly around her waist pulling her down, Mia let out a short shriek of surprise as she collapsed onto him and gave up. Isaac was still laughing and Mia could feel Isaac's warm breath on her cheek, only a few centimeters away. Looking at him with such a happy and carefree expression just made her want to lean in and...

_No. _She told herself, rolling off of Isaac quickly and sitting up, her face flushed red. _No...that can't happen. I can't let that happen, _Mia reminded herself, looking away from Isaac who had sensed something change and sat up as well, looking over at her.

"Mia?" Isaac asked hesitantly, concerned that he had taken a wrong step.

_I could feel myself wanting this..._Mia realized. _I wanted to touch him. I wanted that kiss to happen...I can feel it even now from deep down. _

When he didn't get an answer after the first few seconds he tried again. "Mia, I'm sorry...I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable..." Isaac said.

Knowing it wasn't his fault and not wanting to worry the boy, Mia said, "It's not that...I just..."

"What's wrong?" came Isaac's quick response.

"I don't know! I don't know what's wrong with me!" Mia exclaimed suddenly. "I just feel...odd," she added.

"Odd?" Isaac asked for clarification.

_Isaac! I can't tell you about these feelings...They aren't normal things to be thinking about a friend..._Mia sighed. "It's not anything to be concerned about," the cerulean haired girl said. "I just feel...a bit different from usual right now. Don't worry though...it's not your fault or anything..." Mia added.

Isaac looked at her as she flashed him a sincere smile and recognized that it wasn't something she really wanted to talk about right then. He nodded at her in realization of that fact and gave up. "If you ever need to talk about something Mia...you know I'm here for you," the blonde boy offered up.

Mia smiled back again. _You gave me a way to avoid talking about it if I wanted but still made sure I knew I could talk to you about it if I needed to..._ Mia looked back at Isaac shyly. "Thanks Isaac. I'm just not sure how I would explain any of these feelings anyway," she added, turning red as she thought about him knowing the thoughts she had. _It's not like I can just come out and say something like, 'Oh, I just felt the urge to kiss you,' after all..._Mia mused, her blush darkening slightly.

Isaac shrugged off the unusual behavior and turned his attention to the entrance of the cave where the sandstorm had slightly abated in the time that the two adepts spent talking. Partially as a way to get the awkwardness out of the air between them, Isaac suggested they take a peek outside and try to find out what happened to Garet and Ivan.

Preparing herself again for the harsh wind, Mia stepped outside along with Isaac and took a look around. Though it was still difficult to see in the sandy wind, she caught a flash of orange reddish hair not too far in front of them and pointed it out to Isaac with a hand gesture. Mia felt a sense of relief as the forms of Garet and Ivan came into view as they walked up to another cave off the side of the desert that the two boys were standing in.

"Boy are we glad to see you," Garet said as the pair of Mia and Isaac stepped into the cave where the two boys were waiting. "That sudden sandstorm trapped us in here as well and we were worried if you had found shelter or not," he added.

Isaac clasped the shoulder of his friend with a smile and said, "We found a cave all right, but I was wondering if you guys were able to get shelter too. Looks like you made it safe and sound though."

Garet shifted his attention to Mia, who was standing quietly next to Isaac, her mind still on her thoughts from the cave. Garet picked up on her unusual demeanor. Though he opened his mouth to say something, he quickly shrugged and closed it again, deciding it was not different enough to comment on.

Ivan spoke up instead and explained to Isaac and Mia that they had found the desert's exit when they stepped outside in search of them after the sand abated somewhat. This news was enough to distract Mia from her thoughts of the cave as the group looked rejuvenated by the fact the exit was so close.

_These feelings I have for Isaac...What he is to me...This can wait until a better time than now..._Mia thought as the adepts ventured out into the sand one last time.


	10. Calm Before The Storm

**Chapter 10: Calm Before The Storm**

The cool night air wafted through camp as Isaac sat next to the dying fire, poking at it with a stick absentmindedly. Tomorrow the group of adepts would scale the Venus Lighthouse to stop Saturos and Menardi once and for all. It was an odd thing to think about that after all this time chasing the group, they finally had a chance to actually stop the lighting of a lighthouse.

_One way or the other it will all be over tomorrow..._Isaac mused as he preformed his watch in the rocky terrain of the Suhalla Gate. Not long after leaving the desert behind, Isaac and company set up camp for a reprieve from the long day in harsh winds and sand. _Hopefully everyone will be recovered enough by tomorrow to be at our best for the lighthouse. We can't afford to fail here..._

The embers of the fire crackled as another thought rose unbidden and unwelcome in the back of his mind. The first prediction that Feizhi made during their short time together had been coming back to Isaac more often in recent days as the group continued to get closer to the Venus Lighthouse.

Isaac frowned. _There's no mistaking what she said she saw...The details were all there. The beacon of the lighthouse was lit in her vision and I was the only one she saw on top of the lighthouse. Is that an omen of our failure...? Or does it mean something else?_

That was the most important question and the one that had been eating away at Isaac's mind. He had not told any of the others about that vision yet and didn't know if he should because it could have been a complete misinterpretation as Feizhi had said. _That still doesn't stop me from worrying about it, _Isaac knew.

"Hey," a soft voice said next to Isaac while he was starting at the fire, startling him. He looked over to see Mia taking a seat on the large rock next to him and relaxed again.

"Oh, hey Mia," he replied.

"So, what has you feeling down?" the cerulean haired girl asked curiously when she noticed Isaac's mood.

Isaac almost laughed. _Just how perceptive is she? I didn't think I was outwardly worried..._he shrugged. "I don't know if I'm feeling down..." he said, trailing off.

"Well I see that something's on your mind," Mia replied, trying to be clear she was here to help if he wanted it.

Isaac smiled sadly and looked over at the girl next to him. "You remember Feizhi right?" Isaac asked.

Mia nodded at him not exactly sure what Feizhi could have to do with the mood he was in. "Sure, I remember her..."

Isaac took a breath and then said, "Well...what's bothering me is a vision that she had."

"She had a vision while we were with her?" Mia asked in surprise.

"Yes..." Isaac said. "I'm probably just misunderstanding the vision and she even told me it wasn't perfectly clear...but it still worries me."

"What was it?" Mia asked the logical follow up question.

"It was one of the lighthouses," Isaac said as an explanation. "The lighthouse was lit," he added.

Mia's eyes went wide at those words and she wasn't sure how to react. "So does that mean...?"

Isaac nodded. "That's what I'm afraid of. We might not actually succeed tomorrow."

Mia looked a way for a minute, processing this new information. "But you did say it wasn't necessarily clear right?" she asked again. "I mean...it's not something for certain is it...?"

Isaac shrugged. "Feizhi did tell me not to worry about it though..." so I don't think she's certain of it either. "All the same it still worries me, especially because she apparently only saw me in the vision."

"Well it was a vision about you..." Mia said cautiously.

"But if the beacon is lit and Feizhi only saw me...what happened to You, Garet, and Ivan?" Isaac said, diving straight into the root of his fears.

"Ah..." Mia said as comprehension dawned upon her. "So none of us were in it and you think that..." she trailed off.

Isaac nodded solemnly, scared to see her reaction. _I don't want to say that they might not...make it...but I don't know what to think..._

"I think you're worrying about this too much," Mia said, giving him a weak smile of confidence.

"What?" Isaac said, expecting any response other than this.

"Well...the way I see it is that we weren't in the vision at all...That doesn't mean we weren't there," Mia pointed out.

Isaac shook his head. "But I'm worried I might lose you..."

Mia put a hand gently on Isaac's leg, grabbing his attention and forcing him to focus on her words. "I'm sure that we're all right there with you, but the vision was just about you. After all, Feizhi had this vision when she was alone with you right?" she asked.

Isaac nodded. "Yes, you're right, but...the beacon was still lit...what about that?"

Mia's hand left Isaac's leg and she frowned. "I don't know what to make of that...but all we can do is try our best to stop the lighthouse from being lit...and deal with the results if we do fail..."

Isaac still shook his head. "Even so...the possibility that something might happen to you..."

She sighed, but looked back at Isaac with a smile. "Don't worry too much about it. I know that if you're there, nothing bad will happen. I trust you and know that you wouldn't let anything hurt me," she told the boy.

Isaac sighed as well, dropping his hands and head down in defeat. "I suppose I am just over thinking it...but I can't help getting worried. Thanks for helping me feel a bit better about it though," he added, looking back over at Mia who was smiling at him.

"Of course, no problem!" she said, glad to hear she had managed to cheer him up, if only a little bit.

The pair sat in silence with each other for a little while before Isaac changed the subject. "So why are you out here anyway?" he asked Mia.

The cerulean haired girl shrugged nonchalantly before responding. "I guess I just couldn't bring myself to sleep right now," she explained.

"Truth be told, I have tomorrow stuck in my mind as well," Mia added. "Don't worry! It's not about this vision or anything like that," she clarified when Isaac gave her a worried look.

"I just have to wonder what happens if we do succeed in stopping them tomorrow. I mean...our journey would actually be over then right?" she asked.

Not waiting for Isaac to answer, Mia continued speaking. "We've been traveling around like this for long enough now that it's become routine. Traveling with you and Garet and Ivan is what feels normal to me now. I don't know how I could adjust to the journey actually ending..."

Isaac couldn't help giving her a smile about her insecurity with the end of their quest as it just meant she had fit in perfectly with the rest of them.

"I hate to admit it..." Mia started to say, "...but there are times where I've thought traveling together with you was just fun...times where I forgot all about our quest and just found spending time with you guys to be enjoyable."

Isaac laughed at that and gave the cerulean haired girl a big smile. "I know what you mean. I know this journey is a serious matter but there are times I've felt the same way," he told her. "It makes me question if I actually do want our adventure to end..."

Isaac shook his head. "Of course none of this affects what we have to do tomorrow. We will need to end things and stop the lighthouse from being lit." Changing his tone with a smile, Isaac added, "Who knows though? Maybe once this is over we will all go on a trip together somewhere."

Mia smiled at the thought and blushed before replying. "I'd like that. I want to spend more time with you after this is over..." she said.

Isaac continued to look over at Mia fondly. _The way her pinkish cheeks contrast with that cerulean hair makes her look so cute, _the blonde boy thought. "Of course..." Isaac replied. "I don't want to part with you either," he added.

Mia gave him a wide smile and grabbed his arm instead of replying, letting her head rest against Isaac's shoulder. She closed her eyes with a smile of contentment on her face, still graced by a slight blush. Isaac was surprised, but took it in stride, happy to see Mia looking so peaceful as she leaned against him. _It's moments like these that make everything we go through worth it, _Isaac thought with a grin at the girl attached to his arm. _I don't know what it is, but her kind and caring personality just makes me want to protect her from everything. It's similar to how I am with Jenna, yet there's something else...some other feeling I get when I'm with Mia that is hard to explain..._

_I really can't decide what I think about her anymore. These feelings I feel when I'm with her...it's not something I'm used to, but it still feels...normal...like it belongs..._With a smile, Isaac reached out and brushed some hair out of Mia's face. _The way she looks when relaxed like this is so pretty..._Isaac thought. _I don't mind staying like this for a while..._

Isaac looked away, up at the stars, trying to sort out the meaning behind everything. _Could the reason behind these feelings be that I see her as something other than a friend? _Isaac sighed. _We haven't even known each other for that long, yet I feel like I've shared my entire life with her. _

_If I didn't know any better I might say these feelings are 'love,' but is that really possible in such a short time? Perhaps it is just an infatuation or interest in her brought about by living together so closely... Of course it doesn't help that she's glued to my arm right now either, _Isaac thought with a humorous smile.

_That's probably what it is though, _he decided. _She's a close friend and living together every day has some kind of effect on that. I wouldn't want to ruin that friendship between us by saying something stupid. Plus, this journey isn't even the right time or place to bring up something like that anyway..._

Isaac looked back at Mia and saw her eyes looking back at him curiously, sparkling like the sea. Isaac immediately blushed as his heart skipped a beat in surprise at her stare. "What is it Isaac?" Mia's gentle voice asked him.

Isaac shrugged and gave her a smile. "Nothing really...Just enjoying the calm of the night," he answered, not wanting to mention the long tangent his thoughts had taken over the last few minutes. "It's very peaceful most of the time and even though it means one of us is having trouble sleeping, I do like these watches where we both spend time together," Isaac added.

Mia smiled and gave him an, "Awww...you're so sweet." Sitting up again, she said, "I think it's also a pleasant surprise to see you when I'm on watch too."

Isaac blushed, remembering his thoughts before as he was once again reminded of her charming personality. He sighed and tried to clear the thoughts away again, but they persisted, as strong as ever. _The way she looks at me...the feeling of her hands...that kind voice in my ears...why do they make me feel this way? _Isaac thought with frustration. _Sometimes I just want to grab you, hold you tight, and never let go. Seeing you feeling down hurts me, and seeing you scared makes me want to protect you from all harm. _Isaac brought his hand to his head as his thoughts wandered again, back to the cerulean haired girl he could not take his mind off of.

"Are you okay?" Mia asked the blonde boy, picking up on his distress.

Isaac smiled. _As usual, she can tell something's off tonight with me. That's just another little piece of the Mia I love..._Isaac shook his head quickly. _Love? Love again? I keep coming back to the idea of love...but that's not..._

"Ahh..." Isaac exclaimed, sighing loudly. "I'm fine, I just have a headache," he lied.

Mia looked over the boy with concern and raised her hand to his forehead to ensure he didn't have a fever. "Hmm...well you don't feel sick..." she said slowly. "I think you should just go get some extra sleep. You've been pushing yourself too hard these last few days," Mia explained with a smile.

"No, no, but I'm on watch right now," Isaac said, declining the idea.

Mia gave him another caring smile that forced his heart to beat slightly faster. "Don't worry about it! It was almost over and I'm already awake for mine anyway. Go get some sleep okay?" she requested.

_Always looking out for others instead of yourself..._Isaac thought as he opened his mouth to refuse once more.

Before he could actually say it, Mia crossed her arms and spoke again. "I know what you're going to say, but I'm telling you I'll handle the rest of your watch, so just go rest," the cerulean haired girl said in a firm tone.

Isaac shook his head and raised his hands in defeat. "All right, all right! I'm going to bed," he answered her, standing up and heading for the tent. _Hmph...She knows me a little too well..._ Isaac thought with a small smile as he walked away.

"Good night then," he told Mia with a wave of his hand as he ducked into their tent.

"Good night," came Mia's response, back in her cheerful voice again.

Lying down on his bedroll, Isaac once again put his hand on his forehead and sighed again. _Mia...This feeling..._He shook his head again. _I'll figure everything out after tomorrow is over..._


	11. Showdown on the Aeire

**Chapter 11: Showdown on the Aeire**

They had failed. The Venus Lighthouse glowed with the intensity of a sun, its beacon casting golden light over Isaac, Mia, Ivan, and Garet at the apex. A giant two headed dragon was all that remained of Saturos and Menardi after their initial defeat at the hands of the group of adepts. Refusing to give in, the two Proxians had lit the beacon and used the last of their psynergy to merge into a single entity: the dragon that was currently facing off against the party.

The fight had been tough so far and it was all Mia could do to hold her focus and attention on the group's status, keeping everyone safe from the deadly talons and psynergy the dragon employed. As the skirmish continued to drag out, exhaustion was becoming a very real concern.

_This battle is a battle of attrition, _Mia thought, casting another spell to protect Ivan from the fiery breath that came shooting over at him. As usual, Garet and Isaac were playing point and taking turns distracting the dragon while Ivan and either Garet of Isaac went on the offensive until it was time to switch. Mia shot off a blast of ice that impacted into the left head of the dragon, staggering it and making it roar. Due to the dragon's Mars affinity, Mia was weaving in as many of offensive spells as possible in the time between healing and protecting the group because of their increased effectiveness.

Lashing out with its tail, the dragon swept Garet off his feet and Isaac leapt to cover him so the red haired boy could stand up. The impact knocked Isaac back slightly as he blocked the next two swipes from the dragon's claws with his blade. Garet found his footing again while Isaac evaded a bite and stepped away.

Ivan continued to rain down thunderbolts on their foe from range, peppering the dragon's thick hide with electrical energy and whittling down its stamina over time. Mia drew her attention to Garet and cast a healing spell on him when a pointed talon managed to get a hold of his arm.

The whole fight was just a waiting game. The amount of psynergetic energy it would take to fuse and fight in a dragon form was immense and there was no way Saturos and Menardi could continue to fight like that for much longer. If the group could hold off and survive the merged dragon's brutal assault for long enough, they would win the battle by default.

_That's the real trick though..._Mia thought, quickly creating a watery shield around Isaac to lessen the damage from the Dragon's fiery breath. _Everyone's noticeably exhausted and our reactions are getting slower. We can't afford to make even a single mistake in this battle._ Mia dodged to the side as a long range torrent of fire came rushing at her location, singeing her robes slightly but causing no real harm.

A few quick slashes from Isaac spilled dark crimson blood on the stone floor, eliciting another roar from the Dragon as it took to the air. Twisting in midair, the dragon descended right back down to where Isaac stood and the blonde boy tried to dodge out of the way of the impact. Mia saw a claw swipe at him as the dragon landed with a burst of psynergetic light, rocking the very foundations of the lighthouse itself. As the wave of psynergy radiated out from the impact in a ring, every adept was blasted backward and into the ground.

Ears ringing from the shockwave, Mia slowly picked herself up as the other adepts did the same, trying to assess the condition of the group after the unexpected attack. The dragon seemed to be stunned as well and Mia couldn't help but to wonder if that blow was a last ditch effort to end the battle.

Glancing around the aerie, she found what she was looking for as she saw Isaac shakily get to his feet with a massive claw wound in his chest. Time seemed to slow down for her as the angle of her gaze was just perfect enough to catch the sight of him standing across the lighthouse with the harsh glare of the beacon behind him. Suddenly she knew without a doubt what she was seeing. _This was it...this was the vision of the lighthouse Isaac mentioned. Him standing all alone with the light of the beacon..._

In an instant that vision vanished. Mia saw Isaac slowly raise a hand and attempt to cast a cure spell that fizzled out before losing his balance and collapsing to the ground like a rag doll. Mia's eyes went wide and she heard her voice yell out. "NO!" she screamed as she scrambled to her feet, tunnel visioning on the fallen body of Isaac. There was a roar in the background, but she paid it no mind as Mia rushed to the Venus adept's side.

"Please be okay...please be okay..." Mia repeated as she gently placed a hand over Isaac's chest checking for breathing. The wound looked really bad and his blood was everywhere on his torso, making it hard to see the full extent of the damage. Mia felt nothing for a few moments and then an irregular and ragged breath caused his chest to rise ever so slightly. Mia immediately began to use her healing psynergy to attempt to stabilize the blonde boy before even bothering with the open wound.

"Please Isaac...you have to make it through this..." she pleaded as she worked, feeling a slight increase in the number of breaths he was taking and they began to become more regular as well. A tear fell from Mia's eye as she worked, banishing any thoughts of losing him to the dark corner of her mind.

"I can't lose you...you can't leave yet..." Mia said as Isaac began to stir slightly. She moved on to healing up the actual claw gash itself and Isaac's eyes opened for the slightest second, making Mia's heart skip a beat and filling her with hope. "Isaac!" she exclaimed as his eyes closed again and she continued to heal his injury.

Isaac opened his eyes once more and caught Mia's as they did. "Hey...Mia..." he managed to get out. "It...hurts..." he told her with the slightest hint of a smile on his face, still looking dazed. "Isaac...!" Mia got out as she wiped more tears from her eye and almost collapsed on top of him. "I thought...I thought you were going to..." she said, unable to hold back the tears.

"Mia...I..." Isaac started to say painfully wincing at the effort it took to speak. Mia quickly leaned in and placed a kiss directly on his lips, tears running down her face, stopping him from speaking.

When she leaned back from him she simply said, "Don't try to speak..." A surge of emotion welled up in Mia as she continued to administer medical attention and Isaac slipped back into unconsciousness while she worked with a blush on her face from the kiss. _He's going to be okay though...I can heal him...he's alive..._ Mia thought with a sigh of relief.

Her attention finally returned to her surroundings somewhat as she continued to patch Isaac up and she noticed that the dragon was no more, lending credibility to the thought that what had injured Isaac so badly was a last ditch effort to win the battle. In its place a stunned Saturos and Menardi were barely standing upright near the light of the beacon. _They must have run out of psynergy and couldn't keep it up..._Mia realized. She saw the defeated pair topple over and fall silently into the beacon, disintegrating in its golden light. Looking back at Isaac, Mia finished healing him and with a relieved smile whispered, "Isaac...it's over. We beat them."

Ivan and Garet came over to check up on Isaac as well and after a few minutes of discussion on how to carry the blonde boy down from the lighthouse, Isaac's eyes finally opened once again. "Isaac!" Mia exclaimed when she noticed he was awake once again, feeling relieved once more before the embarrassment hit her. As Isaac glanced her way, Mia felt her face flush red, remembering the rush of emotion from her spontaneous kiss just minutes ago. _Oh Mercury...what do I even say? I...I think I might have just kissed him..._

"Ah..." Isaac said, sitting up slowly and taking in his surroundings. "I know I got injured...but what happened to the dragon...?" he questioned, looking a bit confused about events after being wounded.

Ivan shook his head. "It's gone. Saturos and Menardi are no more," he explained.

"You healed me?" Isaac asked, turning back to Mia who nodded in response, her face still a shade of pink. "Thank you," he replied simply with a smile at the cerulean haired girl. Garet offered a hand to help him up and Isaac took it, getting shakily to his feet before taking a single step and standing still. Mia watched with concern as he stabilized himself.

Before anything else happened, a voice called out from across the aerie. "You beat them?" it asked incredulously.

Looking over near the stairs leading down the lighthouse, the group saw Felix and Sheba standing there, surprised at the defeat of Saturos and Menardi.

"Yes, and it's over now," Isaac called out back to him.

Felix just shook his head. "You don't understand...I have to light the lighthouses anyway!" he replied.

Isaac yelled back. "Felix, stop all of this! Just come back home."

Again Felix shook his head. "Sorry Isaac...this is something I have to do. I'm no match for you right now, but the lighthouses must still be lit."

Isaac took a step forward toward Felix but suddenly the ground shook and the lighthouse violently split into four sections throwing him off balance along with everyone else. Mia quickly reached out and grabbed Isaac to prevent him from falling to the ground.

"Sheba! Grab my hand," Felix said from across the aerie to Sheba who was dangling from the edge of the lighthouse by her fingertips.

"I...can't Felix..." Sheba said back and to Mia's horror, the blonde girl's hand slipped and she fell off the side of the lighthouse.

"SHEBA! NO!" Felix screamed and he dove off the top off the lighthouse after her. For a moment there was nothing but stunned silence as the group tried to comprehend what just happened.

_Did he just...jump...? _ Mia asked herself, still holding Isaac steady despite the shaking having stopped. Suddenly the split pieces of the lighthouse came back together with a crash and the aerie was intact once more.

Garet paced back and forth on the aerie and said no nobody in particular, "Felix you goddamned idiot!"

Mia felt Isaac break away from her and walked slowly to the edge of the lighthouse where Sheba and Felix had fallen. "Isaac..." Mia whispered as he left her side with a serious expression on his face. The blonde boy just looked out from the edge of the lighthouse in silence for a few moments before turning around to face the group.

"We should search for Jenna...and Felix," he said, receiving a nod of agreement from Garet and Ivan.

Mia was a bit more skeptical. "You were just pretty badly injured. I know searching for them is important, but you need to rest up too."

Isaac nodded. "True. You did a good job healing me though. It just feels a little bit sore. I can handle this for a little while at least," he explained.

Accepting his answer, Mia relented and the four made their way to the now working lighthouse elevator platforms to descend down and begin their search for Jenna, Felix, and Sheba. Searching the immediate vicinity of the lighthouse turned up nothing at all; not a single trace of Felix or Sheba was found.

"This means they're both still alive," Ivan pointed out to the group.

"That also means Felix is still going to try to light the lighthouses...so our journey isn't quite over," Isaac added as they expanded their search to try to find 3 missing adepts.

...

Later that night Mia found herself with Isaac at their inn room, getting ready for bed after a long and fruitless search for Jenna, Felix, and Sheba. It had been a crazy day from start to finish and it was only now at the end of it that she had time to think back on everything that happened.

Mia felt nervous and embarrassed because her thoughts kept coming back to Isaac's injury and the kiss she had given him in the heat of the moment. _I can't believe that I actually did it..._Mia blushed as she stole a glance over at the blonde adept on the other bed. _But what does he think of it...? _Mia wondered, surprised by his lack of reaction to what happened all day.

Mia touched her lips with a finger as if she could still feel the sensation of Isaac's lips against hers, turning her face a beet red color. _I want to know what he thought about that..._Mia thought. _But...How can I even bring something like this up...? It's too embarrassing! _Mia squeezed her eyes tightly shut in frustration before opening them again.

"What's up with you Mia?" Isaac asked her when she opened her eyes again. "You've been acting a little strange ever since we got back to town," he explained.

Mia blushed and glanced away quickly before looking back at him. "Um...you know..." she tried to say shyly. _Oh Mercury...why is this so difficult? _"Umm...do you maybe...remember when you got injured?" Mia managed to get out, hinting at what was bugging her.

Isaac seemed to be confused for a moment but he answered without hesitation. "Yes...I know the dragon caught me with a claw during that diving attack..." Isaac said, looking thoughtful.

Mia looked at Isaac incredulously. _Does he really not know what I'm talking about...or...? _She blushed a bit more and began to play with her robes in nervousness. "Do you umm...remember anything else...?" she added with butterflies in her stomach.

Isaac frowned. "Well...you were healing me...but..." He looked down to the ground and back up at her quickly. "I know I blacked out at some point, but I don't really know other than that..."

Mia felt her heart stop. _He didn't...He doesn't remember it at all? _She brought her finger back to her lips, wondering if she was the one imagining things. _But it happened...I felt it...Could he have forgotten? Was he too delirious to realize what happened...? _Mia's mind was racing a mile of a minute and it didn't get past Isaac.

"What is it Mia?" Isaac asked, concerned by her sudden silence.

"Nothing!" she replied quickly in a high pitched voice. _He doesn't even know it happened, _she realized. "It was nothing..." she added as her heart sank. _My first kiss with him and he doesn't even remember..._

Isaac frowned again. "It can't be nothing...Mia...what happened?" he tried asking again.

_Oh Mercury...there's no way I could ever do that again..._Mia knew, blushing once more and turning away from Isaac. "No...It's just that...I..." she broke off halfway through. _I can't! I can't tell him... _Mia turned to Isaac and gave him the best smile she could muster. _If you don't remember...then that's fine. You don't have to remember..._ "No...really, nothing happened. I think you're just over thinking things..." she told him.

Isaac frowned. "I feel like I'm missing something...that I forgot something important..."

Mia blushed and waved her hands frantically denying the statement. "You must be imagining it," she tried to tell him. _Ah...the embarrassment would kill me if he realizes it now...I can't let him know what happened... _

Changing the subject, Mia said with a stutter, "A-Anyway...You need to rest up. I want your injury to heal up well..."

Barely making eye contact with Isaac to avoid further embarrassment, Mia moved over to Isaac's bed and pulled the blankets up and over his body to emphasize the point. "Get some sleep, okay?" she told the blonde boy, looking into his eyes for a brief second before he nodded with a smile.

"I'm just glad you're okay," Mia said with a smile back before heading over to her own bed.

As she tried to leave, Isaac reached out and caught her arm. "Thanks again Mia...for everything. I probably wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you," he said.

When he let go of her arm, Mia didn't move and replied with, "Don't speak like that...I don't want to think about a world without you...You're here now though and I don't want that to change." _I love you Isaac...You already scared me once today, but you're still here. Even if you did forget the kiss I'm just happy that you're alive. There will be more days...more chances to tell you how I feel under better circumstances. Next time...next time I'll tell you properly..._she promised blew out the light in the room to hide her blushing face and slipped into her own bed, calling out in the darkness, "Good night Isaac."

"Good Night Mia," came Isaac's reponse.


	12. Night on the Ocean

**Chapter 12: Night on the Ocean**

The open ocean was an amazing sight to behold. Even a week after setting off from land to begin the search for Felix, Jenna, and Sheba by sea, Isaac was still captivated by the endless sparkling waves. They looked much different during the night, reflecting the light of stars and the moon off its surface. Moving silently across the deck in the moonlight, Isaac swung his sword through the air, practicing the skills that kept him alive through every battle in their journey so far.

In silence he moved, practicing his footwork as he fell into the dance of battle against invisible foes. It was a rare occurrence for monsters to actually attack the ship, though it was still possible so the group decided to stick to the watch system they already had in place. Isaac had taken to using his watches as a way to keep in fighting shape, despite the lack of actual combat on the ocean.

The cool night air breezed past him as he continued the workout, causing his golden scarf to rustle softly in the wind. Isaac feinted to the left and brought his blade back around right to strike a foe before deciding he had enough and sheathing the blade. Isaac ran a hand through his hair before laying down on the deck to relax and look up at the stars.

_It's odd how just a single week of being on this ship has changed so much, _he thought. _I haven't had the opportunity to even speak to Mia very much this week..._he let out a sigh. The ship came equipped with four cabins, allowing all the adepts to have their own room and finally a bit of privacy. Although having a place to be alone for a little while was nice when needed, Isaac found himself longing for the tent setup they had before and realized just how much he missed Mia's presence when she wasn't around.

The blonde boy smiled to himself as he continued inspecting the stars. _It's funny how when she was always with me before that I took her presence for granted. Only now that I've experienced days without her around all the time, did I realize how far I had fallen for her. I think I knew before...somewhere deep down I knew I developed feelings for her, but only now do I fully understand what she meant to me._

Closing his eyes, Isaac thought back to his frustration of days past when he was trying to understand the feelings Mia gave him and let out a chuckle. _All the clues were there for me back then, but I was just blinded to them by myself. The real question know isn't if I love her anymore but more about how she sees me..._

_I doubt that she feels the same way so I do though...that would seem too perfect to be true. I mean...She's always so kind and she does worry about me a lot sometimes, but that's just a part of who Mia is. She has the kind and caring traits you'd expect from a healer like that. _Isaac sighed again, knowing that despite his feelings, Mia would always just be a good friend and traveling companion.

_Sometimes you just have to accept things the way they are, _Isaac decided. _Even though I miss Mia's presence at night and being able to spend time together before bed, this new room situation is probably a good thing. _Isaac could feel some blood rush to his face in embarrassment and his thoughts continued. _I'm not sure if I could really go on sleeping in the same tent so close to each other like we were now that I know how I feel anyway..._ _I mean...I did already have that one dream about her..._

Isaac snapped his eyes open and shook his head as his cheeks turned bright red. _I still can't believe I was dreaming like that..._ Isaac thought, trying to shake off the thought. Unfortunately for him, it was to ingrained in the back of his mind to forget about. _Ugh...it was such a strange dream too and in such a random moment. Why would Mia ever kiss me if I was injured and dying from a dragon attack on top of a lighthouse...? _Isaac almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. _Of all the things to dream about...I sure picked a crazy one._

He shrugged. _It had such vivid detail too... Well, whatever. I need to stop thinking about a random dream and actually pay attention to what's around me. _Isaac picked up his sword from the deck next to him and looked at his reflection in the shiny metal blade. "I can handle this," he told his reflection with a murmur. _I should just act as I always have with her. I shouldn't upset her or drive her away by saying something different, especially in the middle of our journey like this. It would just make things awkward, _Isaac decided.

He broke his gaze away from his reflection when he saw movement in the corner of his eye, prompting him to look up quickly to assess the situation. Isaac relaxed almost instantly and placed his sword back on the deck as he saw it was Mia that was walking toward him.

"Hey," the cerulean haired girl called out to him as she approached with a smile.

"Hey..." Isaac replied, watching her robes sway gently in the breeze as she walked. Mia sat down next to Isaac and the blonde boy blushed when the thought of how beautiful she was crossed his mind. _There's just something about her that makes Mia looks so pretty without even trying..._

Realizing his silence, Isaac quickly brought himself out of his thoughts and focused on Mia. "You're here early," he pointed out the fact obvious to them both.

Fortunately Mia giggled and took it in stride. "Yes, I was awake early for my watch and decided it'd be better to be awake out here with you than awake in my room all alone," she explained. Isaac smiled at her words, happy that she was there before Mia spoke again. "We haven't really talked to each other that much recently," she said, echoing Isaac's thoughts from earlier. "I find myself missing that sometimes..."

Isaac nodded. "I know what you mean...There is something strange about not being with you all the time now ever since I became used to you being nearby," he said. Mia's smile warmed Isaac's heart and encouraged him to speak more. "Those tents were a bit cramped but I don't think I'd mind returning to them at all," he added.

Mia's smile widened and she scooted closer to Isaac so her shoulder was barely touching his. Noticing the contact, Isaac felt a strange tingling sensation in his arm that Mia was leaning against slightly. _Why does this situation have to make me nervous? _the blonde boy asked himself. _Normally something like this wouldn't provoke any reaction at all, but it seems like any interaction with Mia makes me nervous now... _Isaac silently took a deep breath to try and calm himself down and slow the rate of his heartbeat that had increased without his notice.

"I wouldn't mind it either," Mia said shyly as a delayed response, glancing down and away from Isaac.

_What is this strange awkwardness between us right now? _Isaac asked himself. _It's like we've forgotten how to talk to each other all together..._

"The stars are really pretty tonight," Mia commented, trying to change the subject and end the strange silence that had fallen between the two adepts.

Distracted from his thoughts for the moment Isaac replied, "Yes, they always are..." Isaac looked over at Mia, who continued to avoid his eyes as she looked up into the night sky. Recognizing her discomfort, Isaac made a better attempt to continue the conversation. "I used to watch the stars a lot back in Vale you know," he told Mia.

"Oh?" she replied, finally looking back over at Isaac as the strange tension between them evaporated away.

"Yeah," Isaac responded with a smile. "It was one of the things that Garet, Jenna, and I would all do at night. We would always try to find shapes in the stars and point them out to each other."

Mia giggled and looked back up at the stars, scanning the night shy for random shapes. "I can't find any that really look like anything," she said to Isaac with an amused voice.

"I can point some out if you'd like as long as you promise not to laugh," Isaac offered with a shrug.

Mia accepted the offer with a smile and a nod. "Sure...no promises though," she added with a devious grin.

Isaac let it go and put an arm around Mia's shoulder as he brought his face in close to see the sky from her perspective. Oddly enough, this didn't trigger any nervous reaction from him and after a few seconds he pointed out a single star in the sky to her. "See that bright one there?" Isaac asked Mia, who nodded in response.

"If you connect it with these ones here in a line..." Isaac said, pointing out a few more stars nearby to the cerulean haired girl as his voice trailed off.

"What is it supposed to make?" Mia asked curiously when Isaac finished point out the stars.

"A sword," Isaac explained simply. Sensing Mia's confusion, he pointed out the stars again. "The bright one I showed you first is the tip of the blade and then these three here make up the rest of the blade. The rest are shaped as a hilt," he told her.

"Hmm...I can kind of see it," Mia said slowly with a little bit of hesitation.

"You have to use your imagination a little bit to connect it all," Isaac explained, looking over at her with a smile. As Mia turned toward him as well, both adepts suddenly realized just how close to each other they actually were and blushed, turning away again just as quickly to look in opposite directions.

Mia pushed some hair back over her ear and turned back to face Isaac once more with only a slight tinge of pink left on her face. _She looks so cute when embarrassed..._Isaac felt himself thinking before forcibly pushing the thought aside. "A-Anyway..." Isaac stuttered. "That's not the only one of course..."

Raising his arm again, Isaac pointed out a few different stars off to the left and told Mia that they made a bear. She burst out laughing when he said it was a bear, forgetting the embarrassment from a second ago. "Isaac...How the heck did you create a bear out of that?" She asked him, trying to hold back further laughter and failing.

Isaac tried to explain anyway while Mia continued to have fits of laughter in between her attempts to control it. "It's not that funny Mia..." Isaac said. "We were younger back then too you know."

"I know, I know!" Mia said, still giggling, allowing herself to lean up against Isaac for support as she tried to calm herself down. "I don't know why I find it so funny...but it just is," Mia gave Isaac as an explanation.

Isaac sighed, giving up any hope of explaining it, and let the cerulean haired girl work it out herself. Mia finally returned to normal and looked up at Isaac with a smile. "Sorry," she said. "I promised not to laugh but..."

Isaac just shook his head slowly at her with a resigned smile on his face. "That's all right. I didn't realize it would be so funny to you," he said.

"I don't know why it was either," Mia replied, sitting back up and looking over at Isaac. "Thanks for making my watch entertaining though," she added with a grin.

"Of course," Isaac said. "You came out to keep me company on my watch and I want to do the same. It's been too long since we've just spent idle time together like this."

Mia's smile widened again and she gave the blonde boy a quick hug of appreciation for staying out with her after his own watch ended. "It has been far too long," Mia agreed as they settled in for another few hours on deck.


End file.
